The Double-Ket Set
by Wolves silver wind
Summary: Fairy Tail is once again the strongest guild in all Fiore, but it doesn't feel right and hasn't been for the past year. It just isn't right. Team Natsu, excluding Natsu, decides to go on a mission and Lucy obtains an odd pink key. Discovering the existence of an entirely new set to her: The Double-Key set. *I don't own the cover image.
1. Secrets

**Chapter One: Friends Aren't Supposed To Keep Secrets, Right?**

 **Authors Note: Here, sorry if you don't like it. This is right after the Grand Magic Games, but it won't hold any arcs that happen after it. Haters gonna hate, and if you are one well let me give you a news-flash: I. Don't. Care. Flames go to Natsu. I'm uploading this because it's a completed story with seven chapters, and I will put a chapter up weekly, when I can. I feel bad about my writers block, so I might as well do this.**

After the battle against the dragons, and Natsu had _somehow_ gotten away with stealing the king's crown, the guild went back to normal. It is once again at the top in Fiore and they are going to party until the sun comes up. Natsu, on the other hand, is still somewhat troubled from seeing Lucy die. Although it was future Lucy, it was still Lucy and in his eyes, she was... _is_ his nakama.

Sighing, he walks over to the request board and sees a certain mission with an interesting reward. _Perfect!_ His trade-mark grin appears on his face as he takes the mission and bolts out the door in joy.

"Come on, Happy!" The blue cat spins around just in time to his his master/father bolt out the door.

"A-aye?!" Lucy sees the two run out and chases after them.

"I'm apart of the team too!" She yells and as she runs a smile creeps onto her face.

"Gray." Erza taps him on the shoulder and he turns to her. She says no words but points to the door the three left through.

"They'll be fine, it's just a mission." He shrugs it off.

"I know that."

 **-x-**

Lucy, Natsu and Happy sit on the train, the fire dragon-slayer slouched over in a defeated position, face a sickly green. Happy attempts to help his partner but to no avail.

"So, can I see the mission?" Lucy asks looking at the mage across from her. He struggles but eventually gets the paper from his pocket and into her hand. "Hmm... dragonoid creatures attacking the town... reward 7000 J and a celestial spirit key?" looking at Natsu in glee, Lucy sees him double over, saliva dripping from his mouth. "Ehh hmm..." The celestial mage sighs as she looks at her motion-sick friend. _He took the mission for me, didn't he?_

 **-x-**

"Say," Gray sits himself down next to Erza at the bar, "have you seen Natsu or Lucy, or Happy?" She raises her brow at him and swallows her strawberry cake slice before replying.

"No." Gray sighs with a sweat-drop at her simple reply.

"Its been 3 days, that mission wasn't that hard, was it?"

"They are mages, and mages can take care of themselves." She then eyes the stripper for a moment, "Do you doubt your friends abilities?"

"What! No, of course not!" This gains a smirk from Erza.

"Then believe in them."

"Wait, _friends!?_ Me and Natsu!"

"Clothes." He looks down to see himself only in his underwear, _How the hell did I strip during that conversation?_

"Gah!" He searches frantically for his missing garments. Taking another bite of her cake Erza zones out, _W_ _here are you guys? I know the mission wasn't that hard._

 **-x-**

The guild doors slam open and a figure falls in the guild after taking a few steps. A small, flying ball right on its tail. After a moment they realize just who is lying passed out on the guild's floor.

"LUCY!" Everyone rushes to help their friend, and Happy flies behind her, tears marring his face.

"Happy where-"

"I DON'T KNOW!" The cat screams at Erza, who suddenly feels guilt washing over her. The cat is obviously _not_ okay. Everyone stares in shock. _Happy_ had just snapped at _Erza._ Surprisingly she doesn't do anything violent.

"What happened?" The cat looks up at her and sniffed a few times, landing on a table. They all realize upon further analyzation that he is covered in splotches of dirt which seem to be from falling a few times as he flew. His fur is out of place, not taken care of like his usual coat.

"The mission was easy, we-we-" He sniffles and wipes his nose, trying to continue on strong, "we finished it t-two days ago *sniff* b-b-b-but while w-we were coming back some guy j-ju-ju-just..." The cat burst into tears at this point, wiping his face furiously.

"Happy..." Makarov sees the blue cat and tries to comfort him.

"They w-were aiming a-at Lucy. With the-the-the knife *sniff*."

"Lucy's fine, Happy." He puts a hand on the cats head, watching his guild members access the girl covered in minor injuries of scratches and a few bruises.

"B-b-but N-Natsu isn't!" He screams out, shaking. "He got in the persons way and-and-and got sta-stabbed instead. An-an-and then they-they hit us all with a-a-a spell that dra-drained Natsu and Lucy's m-m-magic bu-but I was just out of range an-and when it was done Natsu smiled and said 'sorr-ry' and he-he-he turned into gold dust and... disappeared!" Everyone stares in complete shock at that, not knowing what to say. No one doubts the cats words, in a magical world anything is possible, even that, but for that to happen to Natsu seems surreal. It sounds like exctly what happened to Lisanna but the anima's are closed so that can't be it...

"You may spend as many nights as you need here, Happy. Rest, we will tend to Lucy."

"A-an-an-an-"

"I'll go search for Natsu." Erza volunteered, "where did this happen?"

"A li-little far from the bor-bor-border of Ma-Magnolia." The cat wheezes out before collapsing out of exhaustion.

"I'll leave immediately."

"Same." Gray follows the Titania out of the guild, both determined to find their friend. The guild hall fills with the hum of conversation as people mourn for Natsu in a silent manner. But no one truly mourning. People don't die that way, the way everyone thought Lisanna died, no one actually believes he is _dead_. Gone, yes. But alive.

 **-x-**

Lucy woke in the infirmary after two days, dazed she finds herself staring at a blue furball.

"Happy?" She says blearily, not fully processing the situation she then searches the room for Natsu. She doesn't see any pink, or as he would say salmon. _What happened? Why am I here?_ She shakes her head and slaps her cheeks to try and clear her mind. The mission. The man. The knife. "Where's Natsu?!" She shouts when she remembers everything that had happened.

Makarov then comes in and sees Lucy awake. He sighs and relays the info she's waiting for. After relentless searches through the areas between Magnolia and surrounding towns, Natsu or the man who had done it had yet to be found.

 **-x-**

 **One Year Later**

The team made up of Lucy, Erza, Gray, Happy, Carla and Wendy have been together for months. Ever since Natsu's disappearance Wendy became the groups dragon-slayer, but they all know she'll never replace Natsu.

"Hey, Lucy!" The blue-haired girl grabs a mission and brings it up to her, "Look at this mission, and the reward, too!" Lucy, after finishing her breakfast, looks at the mission Wendy shoved into her face.

"A key, huh?" She looks at Wendy's joyful face like that of a kid on Christmas morning before sighing, "Erza, Gray! How about this mission?" The two mentioned people analyze it.

"Sure." Gray answers, not really paying attention as he gazes off into the distance. He changed ever since Natsu's disappearance. No longer being one of the main fight-starters in the guild, since his fellow fight-starter, rival, and best friend, is no longer there. He is more distant and works harder on missions. He also tries to not destroy as much during missions, although that doesn't mean he's doing a good job at that. Their team is still named 'Team Natsu', he is one of the people working hardest to find their lost... 'leader', of sorts.

"Of course." Erza speaks up after finishing her piece of strawberry cake. She turns her gaze to the blond as she speaks. Her gaze is harder _**(which is an insane feat)**_ , more determined than it was a year earlier, as her determination to find one of her closest friends spiked. Since she wants to find Natsu so badly, her addiction to cheese cake isn't as large as she spends so much time following anything that could relate to Natsu with the rest of her team... of course she still eats it almost constantly at the guild.

"You ready Happy, Carla?" Wendy turns to the two exceeds with an almost forced smile. She also wants to find her fellow dragon slayer and brother of sorts.

"Yes."

"Aye!"

 **-x-**

The mission was a breeze for Fairy Tail's strongest team, exasperated they head back to the inn they're staying at for the duration of the mission.

"That mage's magic was not easy to face!" Lucy plops onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Gray and Erza look at her, then each other, and sigh.

"You're just out of shape." Gray comments, which makes Lucy have a twitch on her forehead.

"You guys are just monsters!" She screams out at them.

"Yeah, Lucy. You should work out more, you're too heavy!" Happy complains before sticking a blue fish into his mouth. Effectively making his cheeks the foods shape.

"Shut-it, cat!" She screams at her burden. Ever since Natsu had gone missing, the cat has been living with her. He refused to go back home if Natsu wasn't going to be there with him. It apparently isn't the same without him, but Lucy inwardly admits that her apartment isn't the same without him, either.

"You got a key, right? Let's see it Lucy!" Wendy exclaims and Lucy jumps too.

"Oh, yeah! Wait, I wanna see something first. Gate of the Lion: Leo! I summon thee!" She flicks her wrist and out comes the Fairy Tail member, Loke.

"Yes, princess?" He puts on his playboy act.

"Whose key is this?" She shows him the key. It's a bright-pink color with a tail-like design surrounding the dragon insignia. The key tip is that of a dragon head.

"I'm ashamed to say that I...don't know." Lucy looks at Loke *ahem* Leo in confusion.

"Aren't you the top of the Zodiac key?"

"The Zodiac, yes. And this is not one of them. I've never seen a key not colored silver or gold before, actually. Let alone pink." He stares at the key intently, "May I stay here while you summon it?" She looks at him, _Of course he's curious_.

"Yes." She sighs. "I am one that connects this world to that of the Celestial beings, I command you! Come forth! Open: gate of the unknown spirit!" turning the pink key in the air everybody waits with anticipation. A fire vortex then forms and spins in front of the key on the ground. In it morphs a dark shape of a person with a tail and horns.

"Dammit!" A familiar voice yells from the flames, and as they vanish the person finishes, "I'm not doing it!" He has a face red with anger, which softens when he sees that he's not where he thought he was. A sweat-drop accumulates at the side of his face when his eyes wander onto everybody in the room. "Fu..."He gives a half-hearted smile.

"Natsu!" Lucy, Wendy and Happy launch at him, tears in all of their eyes. Gray and Erza stare wide-eyed, and when he finally escapes from the pile of girls, Erza grabs his head with her gauntlet.

"I'm so glad you're back." She says, slamming his head into her chest plate while fighting back the tears in her eyes. Gray simply crosses his arms and looks away from the pinkette, acting as if he doesn't care, but the shine in his eyes gives him away.

"Took you long enough, flame-brain." Natsu smirks at this, freeing himself from the scarlet-mages grasp.

"Ice prick."

"So, you're a celestial spirit?" Erza fixates her stare on his fallen form. He looks much different, with a crown of golden horns protruding from his head. He has a red, scaly tail with a white underbelly that slinks on the ground. His previous onyx eyes have been replaced by bright, ruby red eyes with dragon-like slits for pupils. Otherwise he's the same other than the fact that the tips of his clothes are tinted an odd red.

"Yeah..." He looks over to see Loke/Leo towering over him.

"I've never seen a key of your color before." He states, everyone gets off of him, now wanting answers.

"Ah, well, black keys aren't like your regular golden Zodiac ones." He smiles.

"Wait, black? Your key isn't black." Gray says and smirks at the dumbfounded face of his rival.

"What? What color is it?" he asks the ice mage.

"Pink." Literal steam comes out of his ears upon hearing those words. With a face of anger he closes eyes and puts his arm out and his hand face-up and whispers something inaudible, and a black key with three flaming red sixes on it appears above his hand.

"Gate of the devil, I summon thee: Lucifer!" he shouts and he grabs the key and twists it in the air, shocking everyone in the room. A black hole appears in the floor, fire licking at the carpet above. A humanoid wearing a long black cloak with ghastly red eyes in the hood appears, the creature then jumps and lands on the rim of the hole.

"Yes si-" it has a male voice, which is quickly cut-off.

"Dammit Lucifer!" Natsu suddenly yells, punching the cloaked man into the wall with brute force.

"D-Draco-sama!" it speaks, red balls (its eyes) staring at the angry Natsu whose tail was now up, blinding white feather-like streams lighting up at the tip.

"Change the key back. Now." He growls but even Erza feels the power backing up his words.

"Hai, Draco-sama." He said, putting his hand above the pink key reverting back to its deathly black.

"You may leave." The shadow gives a bow before Natsu crushes the spirit's key, making the creature disappear along with the hole.

"You-you destroyed his key!" Lucy screams at Natsu, Leo also feels anger towards the 'Draco' spirit who just sighs at their reactions.

"Double-keys are different from Zodiac." He speaks, "That was just another Double-key."

"Is that how you treat your fellow spirits!?" Leo grabs the hem of Natsu's shirt, eyes ablaze with anger.

"Fellow? No, that's a difference between the Zodiac and the Double-Key set." Loke let go of the shirt but clenched his fists which began to illuminate in a golden color.

"So... the Double-Key set?" Lucy's eyes held determination, she knows Natsu wouldn't doom a comrade in such a way. She isn't worried about that, but this new Key set, now that got her attention.

"Yes, it was the first set created," he looks at them, "even better, I was the first key made by the Celestial Spirit King."

"What!" Lucy couldn't believe that her comrade, _the_ Natsu Dragneel, could possibly be the first spirit key.

"I requested that the Double-Key set be created, therefore there is a whole other group of keys. But there are only ten."

"Ten?" Leo looked at Draco, "Why?"

"Ten not including the so-called 'neutrals', in all there are twelve. Those 11 are below me the same way the other 11 are below you."

"So you're the top of the Double-Key set?" He nods in reply to Grays question.

"Wait, so how could you destroy um... Lucifer's key?" Erza asks.

"Well, as the name of the set implies it is another one of Lucifer's many keys. Everyone in the Double-Key set has more than one key, and therefore more than one master." As he speaks Lucy becomes more and more interested on this new goal. "The first two keys for the spirit were made by the king. However, others can be created."

"Created! How do you do that?!" Lucy exclaims, if she could make the keys... Her thought process stops as she sees a shadow come over Natsu's eyes.

"Lets just say," he looks back up at them, "it comes at a hefty price." Natsu's face is dark and serious, they don't want to know what the price is.

"So, the key that we have for you. Was it created by the king or someone else?"

"Someone else, that's why Lucifer was able to tamper with its color. I can only tell who has the key with ones originally made by the King."

"How many keys are there for you?"

"Lets just say too many to count." Everyone stares at him, how did they _not_ know about this? Natsu seems to read their mind and answers their internal question. "While I was with you, I took myself out of the link of my own free will. No one was able to summon me during that time."

"Then how come..." Happy began but Natsu answers the unfinished question.

"That man was probably from one of the dark guilds that owns one of my many keys. He weakened me with a poison then depleted my magic, forcing me to return back the the Spirit World."

"If he didn't do that, how long could you have lasted with out another magic source or summoner?" Leo asks his supposed superior, he could last a few years but... what about Natsu?

"Probably a few decades, but my power would've been at about... 10, no 5 percent by then." Shocked couldn't even describe the way everyone feels, especially Loke.

"Decades...?!" He nodded at Gray.

"But now I can only stay out about... five?"

"Years?" Happy asked, his face full of hope.

"Days." The hope is shot down like a bird in the sky.

"Why?" Erza asks the newfound stellar spirit.

"A curse." He said, venom coating his words. "As I said earlier, there's a price to pay for creating your own Double-Key set key, and Dark guilds are willing to pay that price."

"You don't mean..." Lucy knows the answer but couldn't help but ask, she wanted her guess to be wrong, for her best friend to be controlled by dark mages... she wouldn't believe it.

"Yes. The majority of my keys are in the hands of dark mages. Actually, at least two dark mages own each of our keys. Just more people own mine."

"So when you yelled when we summoned you..." Erza said, catching on to the situation.

"Recently a dark guild had ordered me to do something that... lets just say, I refuse to do. It's the same one that cursed me to being out five days actually."

"Then why not come back to Fairy Tail! We're still your nakama! We'll help you!" Wendy spoke up, staring at the dragon-slayer.

"I have no doubt you'll help me, but I'm not a member of Fairy Tail." This shocked everyone in the room.

"But I'm still a member!?" Loke spouts out, returning to the spirit world couldn't be the reason.

"I was, for a short time..." he then moves so we could see his arm, the place where the Fairy Tail sign _used_ to be. It's not there anymore. It was _burned_ off, the scars on his arm now a light shade of pink, a newly-healed patch of tissue.

"Who did this?!" Erza stared at the catastrophe in anger.

"Me." This makes the room go silent, he sits back down with a sigh,"Well, I did. But it wasn't my choice. The first time I refused to take their orders they told me to do... something _or_ take away my own Fairy Tail mark. You can guess which one I chose. The second time I refused they cursed my key- one of my main keys, which affects all of them- so I can only be out for five days."

" _They won't get away with this._ " Gray hisses, gaining a mocking chuckle from his rival.

"Is ice princess upset?" He gave his trade-mark grin, but before a fight could break out Loke intervened.

"Wait, how do you keep refusing to do their orders?" Natsu sits back down- from whenever he got up- and gives a heavy sigh.

"Well, as I said _many_ dark guilds have my many keys. They send me to do their 'dirty work' so they can get away with things without the Magic Council knowing it was them. Of course I refuse on a daily bases, but they're not so nice about that." He gave a smirk that sends shivers down everyone's spine,"The good thing about being the second-best of the entire spirit world is I got my own rules. I also helped make your rules and my key-set rules. I can refuse a direct order _but_ there are consequences. Either my summoner decides it, but if they don't do anything about it the... Spirit King does. With dark guilds you can guess the spirit king has yet to touch me." Everyone understands what he means, dark guilds are known to be ruthless.

"So... what goes along with your rules?" Carla stares at the flame mage in front of her.

"Well, thanks to me all other spirits exist, and thanks to me being at the top of my keys, even if the King asks for 'majority vote' what I say still goes. Thanks to that you Zodiac's are alive."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Loke stares at the 'Draco'.

"Well, when he asked for a vote of the Double-Key's on whether or not to make a Zodiac key set, I was the only one who said yes to it. And I... persuaded the other Double-Keys." He gave a devious smile and they could guess what he meant by 'persuaded', staring at him with half-hearted smiles.

"So, will you come back to the guild with us?" He looked at them, tilted his head, and smiled.

"Of course... as long as I can stay out the entire time." Lucy's smile quickly fades. "Don't worry, I'll use my own magic!" Everyone in the room brightens at that, Natsu is back... in a sense. Now to tell the guild.

 **Authors Note: Ta-da! I had to make this after seeing all those 'what if Natsu was a Celestial spirit' fanfics. Had to, so~ yeah. This will have a second chap. And a third, and a fourth, etc. Hrm, well I'll put this up, hopefully, weekly. Especially since this story is already finished on my story. Cross fingers! And hope my writers block decides to tip its hat and say farewell. But that's all up to me, isn't it... Well! Thank you for reading this and I hope you will review, follow, and hell even favorite if you like this story that much. Although I doubt it... OH! This is _not_ a Natsu is E.N.D. story! Til next time, see ya!**


	2. Double-Life

**Chapter Two: Leading A Double-Life Is Hard When You're Apart of a Legal and Dark Guild**

 **Authors Note: Here's the second chap. (like promised) so~ thanks for reading!**

 _"So, will you come back to the guild with us?" He looked at them, tilted his head, and smiled._

 _"Of course... as long as I can stay out the entire time." Lucy's smile quickly fades. "Don't worry, I'll use my own magic!" Everyone in the room brightens at that, Natsu is back in a sense. Now to tell the guild._

 **XXX**

Everyone watches the flame dragon-slayer as they ride the train. He is a-okay. No motion sickness, no nothing.

"So... was the motion sickness from being out of the Spirit World for to long?" Lucy asks, he looks at her with a bright face and nods.

"So, we only have five days?" Wendy asks _again_ which gets a sigh from everyone in the train.

"Yes Wendy, I'm sorry." He gives a sad smile to the young dragon-slayer, patting her on the head. Erza, on the other hand, is further analyzing the red on her friends clothing.

"Natsu," she sighs, giving up on doing it on her own. "What's the red on your clothing?" He looks at her with a sad face, then back to the red-dyed cloth. Erza's eyes widen, she was almost positive her hypothesis was wrong.

"Blood." The air goes stale as he sighs and leans back. "I can't constantly say no, no matter how badly I wish it. They're still my master in this world, after all." He leans forward again, tail falling limp onto the ground. The blinding feathers from earlier diming out into air.

"Natsu..." He eyes Lucy who gulps. "We're here to help. Okay?" He sighs and puts his hand through his hair.

"Let me sum up my problem, then." He looked at them all. "Right now, one of my main keys is in the hand of a dark guild which took away my membership to Fairy Tail and cursed me to being out for only five days. I am not allowed to attack or harm _any_ of my masters and if they are in true danger I _must_ come to their aid. Do you understand where I'm getting at?" Erza and Lucy seemed to be the only ones. Another sigh comes from the Double-Key spirit. Lucy pities him and sums it up in a more simplified version.

"It means that if we attack the guild with one of his many keys, he'll be forced to aid the dark guild and fight us while we're trying to save him. He also can't save himself."

"Then why not just ask your other stellar spirits to help you?" Gray asks, everyone stares, anticipating Natsu's answer.

"That-" Natsu began to say but was interrupted by the announcement that they had arrived in Magnolia. "Let's go!" He jumps with glee, blasting from the train, tail flying behind him, lit-up once again. Everyone sighs but they can't hide their smiles. Natsu- their Natsu- is back. Now they just have to save him for good.

 **-x-**

Upon everyone entering the guild it goes silent at the sight at their long-lost friend. Angered by the silence, a certain iron dragon-slayer begins the guild ruckus.

"I call a rematch, Salamander!" The guild quickly becomes a war-zone as Gajeel launches at Natsu who simply side-steps.

"SILENCE!" The guild master turns into a titan before shrinking back down in front of Natsu. "My boy..."

"Gramps." That's when he realizes the mark on Natsu's arm is gone.

"What happened! Did you-" Natsu raised his hand for silence and everyone gives him their full attention, noticing all the strange things about the Natsu before them.

"I have a lot to explain, I know." Natsu says as he looks at the master. "I can't stay for long, so let's get this done now."

"Whoa, why so serious?" Gajeel mocks, gaining a glare from the pinkette.

"Let's start with the fact that I'm a celestial spirit. I can't explain everything now but they can. I can only stay for five days thanks to a curse. You'll be able to contact me because Lucy obtained one of my keys."

"Wait, what!" He sighed then turned towards the people behind him.

"You explain, I'm going for a walk." He walks towards the door, Happy following him eagerly. The guild could only stare at him wide-eyed, all thinking the same thing; _So fast!_

 **-x-**

After fishing and some catching-up the two return to the guild, noticing the change in the atmosphere.

"Natsu, sit." Natsu listens to his mas- no, previous master, and sits on a chair.

"Which guild is it?" He stares at the man who everyone now knew was _younger_ then the flame mage.

"There are a lot, any specific one?"

"The one that cursed you, of course! The one that took your mark!" Romeo shouts out, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. The dragon-slayer sighs and leans back on his chair.

"Can't say." The guild explodes in anger, but Makarov stares intently as Natsu's face changed from apathetic, so sorrow. Only to turn back to its previous, stoic state.

"Another curse?" The guild master asked the flame mage who only nods in reply. The guild again goes silent.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Loke-who came out on his own accord-asks.

"The guild-no, I should say-guilds would've found me much faster. Also, I'm in no mood to face the King of Limbo anytime soon."

"You mean the Celestial Spirit King?" Lucy says and Natsu looks at her wide-eyed.

"Ah, yes! I forgot he changed it, even if it's been at least a few hundred years it still feels so new."

"Wait, he used to be the King of Limbo?" Loke looks at the Draco spirit.

"Yeah. It's a long story for another time."

"So," Gray speaks up,"let's use the other stellar spirits to aid you. What do you say?" The pink-haired boy stares at his rival, and gives an exasperated sigh.

"As you know, I will have to fight you if you attempt to harm my masters. The other stellar spirits are no exception."

"But they'll just be sent back if they're harmed." Erza says and crosses her arms, Natsu already knew that, _where is he getting at?_

"I was the first spirit key. Well, I was also the one who gathered the spirits to use for the other keys. I know who each and every one of them used to be. Including you, Leo." Natsu leans forward, staring at the guild members intently,"You usually are sent back, but there are two cases in which you cannot be sent back." He raises his middle and index finger at that.

"Which are?" Loke asks, he would figure out the other things Natsu said later.

"One, banishment. Which you know quite well, Leo. The second is death."

"But, they can't die, they're spirits already." Gray crossed his arms, staring at his rival who gives him a glare in return

" _We've_ already died once." He looked at Loke,"And only the King or I can make it happen again."

"We've died once? I don't remember death."

"That's because you didn't want to," Natsu stared at him,"The Zodiac keys are actually spirits of people that wished to come back but also didn't want to remember their previous life. The Double-Key set are spirits that wished to come back _and_ remember their previous lives. The Silver keys... they were the only ones actually made by the Celestial Spirit King."

"What about you?" Mira spoke up,"I mean, you never said we-even on the Double-Key set-you only said _they_."

"True." He nodded, crossing his arms. "Unlike all the other keys, I had never passed on from Limbo. I refused to, and thanks to that I inspired the Celestial Spirit King to create the keys and turn Limbo into the spirits home."

"Wait, so the Spirit World used to be Limbo?" Macao speaks up, everyone giving him a stare.

"Yes. In Limbo there is no such thing as time-as you've been to the Spirit World before that is no longer the case. That is because of the magic that has been placed in the realm."

"Let me guess, that's also your doing?" Gray scoffs, only to get a nod in reply.

"Wait, who was I? And my fellow spirits?!" Leo stepped out from the crowd.

"I cannot say. You asked for the memories to be gone, so I took them." Leo's face goes red with anger as he steps forward and grabs Natsu by the collar.

"Why the hell do none of us know about this?! About the Double-Key set? I _should_ know!" Natsu just gives a dark chuckle in return.

"Yes, yes. I suppose so." Then his glare goes cold as he gives the crowd a quick scan, stopping on Lucy. "But now is not the time. I can't stay forever. Hold your questions for the next time we meet, I have to go." With that, he disappears in a tornado of flames, leaving everyone in shock.

"Did he just leave? I thought you summoned him." Wendy looked at Lucy for answers.

"Maybe one of his masters is in trouble." Wakaba sighs, taking in more of his smoke.

"Seems so." Lucy nods, staring at the key. It's empty, the symbol no longer where it should be. Everyone tries to go back to normal, and time goes by in more silence than not. Lucy finds her spot at the bar table talking with Lisanna about Natsu. Suddenly her keys vibrate as if exerting an immense power, pulling them out she sees the symbol on Natsu's key had returned and made haste in summoning him again. The rest of the guild pauses in shock and mild happiness.

"Gate of the Dragon, I summon thee; Draco!" Another torrent of flames come, and Natsu stands in the remains of the fire. A lot happened to Natsu by the looks of it.

Blood, that's the first thing everyone notices. He's covered in blood, and lots of it. Then they notice the red, scale wings protruding from his back, thankfully folded. The tips which drag on the floor are long, blinding feathers of light. The dragonic eyes scan the crowd once again in disdain before he realizes he's in Fairy Tail.

"Wow, did you summon me right when I got back?" He says, sitting down. The deadly aura that surrounded him moments ago dissipating.

"What the hell? What did they make you do?" Gajeel stares at his blood-covered rival. He realizes-as does everyone else at that moment-that the blood wasn't his.

"I think it's obvious." Natsu says but then Erza steps right up to him and grabs him by the collar, her bangs hiding her eyes in their shadow.

"Didn't you say you can disobey them?! Are you not _letting_ them make you do this!" Her grip on his shirt tightens, her shaking gauntlets the only noise in the entire hall.

"If that's what you want to believe," he spoke, but then lifts her head so they are eye to eye. Her left eye shining with the tears she's fighting to supress. "But, there are consequences. What would you prefer me give up next?"

This made them pause, why would he have to give up something?

"What do you mean?" Wendy speaks up, looking into the eyes of the other dragon slayer. He sighs and Erza puts him back down with a growl.

"You're the only legal guild that owns my key. You also don't have to be a celestial wizard to summon me. Over the centuries I have lost numerous things because I would refuse to do what people say. And they would ask me to do things worse than what I just did. I lost an eye and it took three decades for it to heal, everything heals through time in the Celestial Spirit world, but that doesn't make it any less painful." he half glares at them while he speaks, effectively silencing many of the mages.

"What are you getting at, Salamander? We just have to beat the shit out of them! Gee-hee hee" Gajeel laughed, slamming his fist into his other hand.

"Hmm..." Natsu then flashed his usual goofy grin, but it had a devious twist to it. "How about a little game then?"

"What?!" The guild members stare at him, expecting nothing less of their favorite dragon slayer.

"If you can beat me-and I mean me at... almost full power-I'll aid you, as much as I can. The dark wizards that have me on their side are absolutely ruthless, they'll at least _tell_ me to attack you, to protect them when the time comes. So, I will test Fairy Tail's strength. Decide whether or not you're worth my precious time." He crosses his arms in front of his chest, his smile widening. "Is the strongest guild in Fiore willing to accept my challenge?"

"Yeah!" Fists pump in the air as everyone cheers, but Lucy notices Natsu's smile droop, somehow saddened by the sight.

"Hey, old man." He turns to Makarov who sees the determination and sadness in his old 'childs' eyes.

"Hmm?" He sits on top of the bar counter.

"Can I have my guild mark back? You know, if they beat me?" the few who hear this turn to him in shock.

"Why? Wouldn't they take it again?" He nods, but flashes another devious smile.

"That's the plan. " He sits on a stool,"I could care less about the pain, actually... if I rest in the spirit world long enough, the scar will fade. The plan I have is that if I deem you worthy of this task, I'll show the dark guild the guild mark." Erza perks up, realizing the plan.

"So then they'll come to us..." She nods.

"H-how do you know they'll come!" Wendy squeaks.

"Because they are trying to find the second of my main keys. If you have one key they may think it's the one they're searching for. So they'll come to Fairy Tail knowing you had summoned me. Then, well, the rest is obvious." Makarov nods, but has his speculations on the plan. Especially one made by Natsu.

"Are you positive?" Natsu sighs at the old mans question.

"Listen, Makarov," he flinches at the boy not saying 'gramps, "I've known this kid for quiet some time. His parents gave him one of my keys, so I knew his mother, not the best person..." He crosses his arms and nods as if agreeing with himself.

"I take it the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Gray jokes as Natsu pauses and cracks a smile.

"Yep! And it was a rotten one! As soon as she-well, I-taught him about the Double-Key set, he devised a plan." His face grows serious as he looks at his friends,"He's..." His brow pulls together tight in thought for a moment, but then he comes upon a decision,"He's going to-GAHH" He suddenly grabs his throat in pain, falling from his chair. Red markings crawling up his throat and jaw, shining maliciously.

"Natsu!" Everyone screams, running to aid their friend, but the master is there first.

"Natsu, my boy! What is this?!" He grips the pinkettes shoulders, who just winces in pain. After a few moments the red ruins on Natsu's throat vanish and he goes limp in his old master's arms. Everyone looks at their fallen friend for a few moments before Loke *ahem* Leo comes out in a flash of golden light.

"What happened to Natsu?!" He yells, then quickly seeing the pink-haired boy limp in the master's arms. Quickly he scoops him up and disappears in another flash.

"W-" Lucy begins but in a moment Loke returns, more composed than before.

"Sorry about that. The Celestial Spirit King sent me as soon as he felt a disturbance in Natsu's magic." Loke explains putting everyone at ease.

"Wait, so he's resting in the Spirit World right now?" Wendy asks, getting a sweet smile and nod from the spirit.

"He should heal up and be much more powerful upon his return. The Spirit King won't allow him out, even when summoned, until he is completely healed."

"How long until then?" Makarov asks, worried for his child. Even though he no longer has the guild mark, he still loves Natsu- the boy who's _older_ than him.

"The King says at most a day before he should go out. Although Natsu might force his way out."

"Isn't he Natsus ruler?" Gray says and crosses his arms in front of his bare chest.

"That's what I thought, but apparently at full strength he's _stronger_ than the King." Lucy puts a hand to her mouth in shock, _S-stronger!? A spirit? Let alone, Natsu!?_

"Unbelieveable." Gray huffs,"He's on par- no, weaker than me. There's no way."

"Well, he was also out for many years, probably evening his power out so he wouldn't become suspicious. Healing up will-" Loke is suddenly cut off as a circle of light appears beside him. Flames spewing from its mouth.

"What the hell, you old man! Let. Me. GO!" Natsu's voice wails.

" **YOU NEED TO HEAL!** " The Celestial Spirit Kings voice booms. " **And how did you open a portal!?** "

"That's for me to know and you to find out! Now-" A hand-Natsu's-grips the edge of the portal,"-get OFF OF ME!" Everyone watches the King struggle with the spirit who looks like a teen.

" **No. Stay here to heal.** " At this Natsu pauses, slowly lets go of the portal, and turns to face the massive spirit.

"Mr. Limbo-"

" **CELESTIAL SPIRIT KING! Why can't you remember?!** " Anime tears roll down the Kings face, saddened that his friend can't remember his true title.

"Whatever." he shrugs it off before getting serious again,"If I stay here and heal I'll gain my full power. And if they-" he points at the Fairy Tail members,"face me at full power. They'll _never_ win. And I'll most likely kill them all. Plus, it'll help _that_ guilds plans." He spits out the last part, and the King finally sees his logic.

" **Fine.** " Natsu nods and turns towards the portal, almost at it, then the King speaks up again," **But come back every once in a while. It's getting kind of boring.** "

"Oh really?" Natsu turns from the portal with a devious, toothy grin. "I'll just tell Phire to have some fun then." The King's face pales and Natsu laughs before leaving, closing the portal behind him.

 **Authors Note: Good news! I know** _ **exactly**_ **what I'm gonna do! Now~ I just gotta do it! Yay! Thanks for reading, and I live off of reviews. Wow, this is going fast and the character development isn't too good, I suppose I should fix it *sigh*. I'll do a remake later, probably. So, til next time! See ya!**


	3. The Fox and the Owl

**Chapter Three: The Fox and the Owl**

 **A/N: Whelp, here's the next chapter, thanks for reading!**

 _"Whatever." he shrugs it off before getting serious again,"If I stay here and heal I'll gain my full power. And if they-" he points at the Fairy Tail members,"face me at full power. They'll never win. And I'll most likely kill them all. Plus, it'll help that guilds plans." He spits out the last part, and the King finally sees his logic._

 _"_ _ **Fine.**_ _" Natsu nods and turns towards the portal, almost at it, then the King speaks up again,"_ _ **But come back every once in awhile. It's getting kind of boring.**_ _"_

 _"Oh really?" Natsu turns from the portal with a devious, toothy grin. "I'll just tell Phire to have some fun then." The King's face pales and Natsu laughs before leaving, closing the portal behind him._

Everyone pauses, not knowing how to react to the sudden event. Loke walks up to him and freezes.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He screams at him.

"To you, he's a king. To me, he's just an old friend." He crosses his arms,"What're you still doing here, anyway?"

"I'm here because I want to be. And I want answers." Natsu nods, closing his eyes. He opens them and scans the guild, and they realize his cheeks are scale-like, same as his arms which hold a holy glow beneath them.

"Well? Are we going to do this?"

"Huh?" Natsu just sighs at their confusion. He hadn't been gone that long, had he?

"The fight?" Makarov asks and Natsu nods. "If everyone's ready." The cheers say it all and Natsu smiles, gets up and stretches.

"Well, let's go then." He then turns to the master once again,"Is Gildarts here?"

"No... Do you think you're that strong?" Natsu smiles at this.

"Well... If they do their plan before you get my key, then if you want a chance you'll need him." Natsu says to the shocked old man.

"H-how strong can their plan make you?"

"Very." Is Natsu's simple response. The guild is now empty except for a selected few who know they won't stand a chance in the battle. Once outside they go to a small clearing that's fit for a grand battle. "Well, don't hold back. That's all I'm gonna say." He gives an animalistic grin, but quickly loses it. "Uhh... Luce?"

"Hmm?" She stands next to Loke, surprised he called her out.

"You... May have to sit this one out."

"Why?" She says and Loke narrows his eyes at the statement. Natsu just crosses his arms.

"I'm not gonna kill any spirits." He states,"Leo, you can't fight either." The spirit disappears but Lucy just brings out her whip.

"I _can_ help." She sneers, cracking the whip. Natsu gives a warm smile, and then gets in his battle stance. He untucks his wings, the glowing feathers lighting up the battle field in their warmth and light. Bending his knees he gets slightly lower. In his stance he gives no openings and holds up his loose fists.

"Go!" Makarov beacons, still feeling slightly uneasy about everyone going against Natsu. Natsu knows everyones strengths (and weaknesses), and therefore has a good idea on how strong they are. So Makarov knows that if Natsu is slightly doubtful, it means they are right on the edge. That or he's testing them for something other than strength.

"RRAAAAGGGHH!" They all launch. Metal beams-with a back-up of ice spikes- shoot out straight away. Natsu grabs the metal 'Demon Log' with his bare hand and melts the ice before it touches him. Erza comes forward in her winged armor, attacking on the front lines, sword after sword. He dodges them easily, but she soon equips two metallic swords. Swinging one at him he dodges it, the other flies towards him from a different angle which he doesn't notice.

 _Clang!_

Everyone freezes, seeing him put his wing between the sword and his body. A web of cracks cover the silver surface, and pieces chip off.

"You have to do better than that!" He says, kicking her in the stomach and sending her flying. Everyone watches as she crashes through the trees behind her, a dust cloud filling the space. After a moment of silence everyone attacks once again.

The attacks are strong, but they realize Natsu is stronger. Much stronger, as they notice he is definitely holding back. Erza is once again butting heads with him in her Fire Empress armor, but everyone is fighting with her.

"Hmm... it's time I attack." He jumps back, does a flip in the air and lands on his feet. "Celestial Fire Dragons..." They all freeze, but Erza is quick to act, re-quiping into her adamantine armor she hops in front of the crowd. "Starlight Roar!"

The attack seemed self explanatory; a wave of darkness shooting from his mouth with _golden_ flames and yellow sparks flashing through it. Erza quickly puts the shield together and is hit by the full force of the attack. _This is-_ She grits her teeth- _Stronger than Jupiter Cannon!_ The attack lasts awhile and Gray has to back Erza up, barely lasting through it. Right when he finishes the shield breaks, throwing them into the crowd behind them, crushing a few unlucky people.

"What!" Everyone yells, seeing the force of the attack, thankful for Erza's protective shield.

"That was about half of my power," Natsu belows, everyone turning to him in a newfound fear. "What would you do if I had to attack you with all my strength!" They look at each other. Gray furrows his brows and helps Erza up while pushing her off of him.

"Then we'd beat you." Gray states from Erza's side.

"What if I had no mercy?"

"Then we'd stop you." Erza joins in.

"What if I had... to kill you?" Everyone freezes, but Laxus speaks up.

"Please," Laxus says with an eye roll but then gets serious, "we won't die, we'll stop you." Natsu can't help but chuckle as everyone roars in approval of his words. He turns to the master who looks satisfied by his guild.

"Don't worry. In the battle I won't kill anyone." He places a hand on his shoulder before going back to the guild, everyone in his wake. There Natsu gets his mark back, and they party all night because of their reunion and rejoining member. Everyone laughing and fighting- other than the guild master, who cries for the money that's being lost as the damages pile up.

Late in the night/morning, when everyone has passed out in a pile of bodies and broken furniture, Natsu nimbly leaps from the pile. Making sure not to wake up anyone.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" The voice shocks him, and he spins around in battle-mode, staring at the presence which had snuck up behind him. He relaxes as he sees it's just the old man, and gives a nod.

"Yeah. I can't stay forever. I can buy you as much time as possible, but that's all I can offer."

"Where will you go?"

"An old friend who I had entrusted one of my keys to." Makarov raises his eyebrows at this.

"And who would that be?" Natsu gives a small smile and shakes his head.

"I'd rather not say." Makarov is skeptic, but nods anyway. Accepting the response in a sense.

"When will you be back?" Natsu freezes at this, placing his index finger on his chin in deep thought. Little does the Double-Key spirit notice the eavesdroppers which lie still in the pile of bodies. Listening to their conversation.

"Probably... for war." He gives a sad smile as he turns back to his guild master. "Do you think they're prepared?" Makarov gives a sly smirk.

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" Natsu gives a short laugh at the old man's words.

"I thought we were going to keep pretending that we didn't know they were awake."

"Pretending?" Grey gets up, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You heard me," Natsu narrows his eyes in a mocking way. "Well, I have to be on my way. See ya later." He gives a two-fingered salute before disappearing into a small tornado of fire. Everyone gets up as the tornado dissipates, shocked that he hadn't waited for everyone else to get up and have a final conversation. But then again, the party served to be just that, and it was a wonderful temporary goodbye.

"Well, now that you're all up! This place won't clean itself, you know!" Groans fill the large hall as they wished they hadn't woken up upon Natsu's departure.

"You heard him! Get UP!" The Titania yells, everyone pops up straight away giving a salute to the re-quip mage. In fear of what she'll do to them if they don't obey her order.

 **(With Natsu)**

In a flash of light and fire, Natsu appears next to an original key holder. Neither speak for a moment before the black-haired mage speaks up.

"Haven't seen you in... years." Natsu nods at this.

"Been busy. What about you?" The dark mage shakes his head.

"I've been searching for your sister, but that's it." Natsu rolls his eyes at this and crosses his arms.

"Still want death? Ellery will give it, but find some joy in life! Sheesh! You're so gloomy!" Natsu gives a heavy sigh,"I don't care who you are. Mage or not, you're human. Go out and have some fun every once in awhile, make a friend!" The other mage raises his eyebrow at this.

"I can't just do that right now, my magic's low."

"Not literally!" The pinkette sighs,"Go out, socialize-you know, when you hang out with other _human beings_ -and _find_ a friend."

"That's not a good idea for me. Plus, I don't think I'm entirely human." After another moment of silence Natsu chuckles.

"...I know."

 **(Dark Guild)**

"I summon thee, key of the Dragon; Draco!" Someone twists the said black key in the air, and in a torrent of flames out comes the pink-haired mage.

"What is it, Dain?" he spits the words out as if they were poison to his tongue.

"Don't speak to me like that, _Draco_." Dain orders the spirit who rolls his eyes. "My plan is almost complete." He smirks, turning to the shocked spirit. " I need you to go kill the family in the house two mile west of here."

"... They're innocent, aren't they." It was more of a statement then a question, which the other only smiles at in reply. "Whatever." The spirit gets up and disappears, much to Dains' surprise, and joy.

"You will soon be completely under my control, _Draco._ Brother of E.N.D."

 **-x-**

" **Natsu.** " The spirit king belows as his strongest spirit key; Draco, appears. The king ignores the fact that the others clothes are blood-soaked.

"Mr. Limbo." He gives a flourish, over-exaggerated bow, his eyes half-lidded and unamused.

" **You haven't come back in many years.** " Natsu opens his mouth but the King makes sure to cut him off. " **Not including our small encounter. I have not been able to have such a conversation with you.** "

"I have missed this as much as you have." Natsu smiles up at the king who easily notices the drastic dragonic changes in the fellow spirit. "But, I can't stay for long."

" **I know. I have been watching over you for a while now and understand your situation. And, if the time comes, I shall help you out personally.** " Natsu gives a small smile, before feeling himself being summoned to the outer world. But before he goes he makes sure to rid himself of blood and anything attached onto him with the liquid.

Appearing in an old-yet new-guild hall Natsu flashes his toothy smile.

"I'm sorry for summoning you right away..." Lucy apologizes, clipping his black key back onto her belt.

"It's fine. But why'd you summon me?"

"I wasn't the one who wanted to summon you..." This piques his interest and soon his eyes widen as a familiar voice speaks.

"We asked her to." The voice is one Natsu had been acquainted with many, _many_ years ago. And as he turns to face his old friend a small, genuine smile crawls across his lips.

"Wise." Natsu freezes as he turns his entire body to face the center of the guild, not believing what his eyes are seeing.

If someone were to glance at the duo standing in the guild people would think they were cosplaying as realistic animal humanoids.

One is a nine-tailed, pinkish fox. It has narrow gleaming red eyes and long, sharp, black claws. It's wearing a yellow kimono with red trimmings, some purple and green. The outfit seems like something people would wear in an older era of Japan.

Beside the intimidating fox stands a winged creature. It looks like a barn owl, except as tall as Laxus. Wings slightly dragging on the ground, it has a cloak-which colors are the same as its feathers-almost covering his body completely. In one of its brown hands is a brown staff with an owl head tip, two large oval gems in the place for eyes, their color identical to the blue jewel on its cloaks collar.

"...and Kitsune?" Natsu finishes as the two take a step forward before kneeling.

"Master Draco, we're glad to see you once again after so many years." The fox speaks up, and everyone can only gape at the scene as Natsu closes his eyes for a few seconds.

"No need to kneel." His tone is as strong as a leaders, looking down at them with an overpowering glare. One the guild had never seen on him before. The two stand at his command, and the fox takes a step forward to speak.

"Draco-"

"You know my name, Kitsune." Natsu sharply cuts him off. And with a respective bow Kitsune restarts.

"Natsu, Wise and I have come to ask for you to let us aid you." The pinkette crosses his arms and bores holes into the two before him.

"And I'm guessing you're all in on this?" Wise takes the initiative at this question.

"Yes, we were the ones chosen from the group vote." Natsu turns his view from the two to the crowd that slowly surrounds them.

"Why?" He turns back to Wise and Kitsune, two of his three most trusted spirits.

"It's because they care about you, or has your brain fried?" Gray speaks up from the sidelines, through with the silence on their part. At this remark the named 'Wise' slams his staff on the ground, its eyes glowing in a soft blue. While Kitsune's claws are surrounded in a red glow.

"Don't insult Natsu." Kitsune hisses, his eyes gleaming in a blood red.

"Calm down you two!" Natsu walks up to them, placing one hand on the foxes claw, the other on the owls glowing staff. They look at his angry face with ones filled with confusion. Removing his hands so that he can cross them he gives them both a soft glare. "What's gotten into you guys? You were never this loyal before, especially you, Kitsune!" He points at the named spirit. "It almost rivals Lucifer's loyalty and that's quite a feat! So, spill it."

After moment of giving each other a knowing look, the two spirits sigh and turn to their alpha.

"We're just worried about you." Kitsune begins, and Wise pick up.

"The King hasn't stopped watching to make sure you're okay. You've been gone for years and suddenly come back, only to leave every two seconds! The King has only told Lucifer what's up with you-"

"So that's it." A smile graces Natsu's lips as he gives a small nod. "You want him to tell you, so you're being just as loyal as Lucifer." The smile leaves his face as Kitsune speaks up.

"Are we not allowed to worry about you? Can't we help a friend?"

"Plus the King has gone into a depression without you around. He just wants you to come home... We all do." As the owl speaks Natsu turns around, showing everyone his back-or should I say wings. Few-namely Makarov and team Natsu-can see the solemn expression he wears. His mouth in a firm line, brows knit with worry.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go back to the spirit world." His words are softly spoken, hardly audible to the people the farthest away, but everyone near him can hear his words are strained, and full of grief.

 _"_ Then come _home._ Let us help you." Wise speaks up, but Kitsune takes a more... aggressive approach.

"Quit being such a stubborn fool!" He shouts out, stomping up to the head double-key spirit. Natsu whips around on his heels, catching the fire-covered fist with his bare hand, the flames licking and cackling on his skin. The shock wave from the punch blows past him and ruffles his clothes and hair.

"This is the Kitsune I know." Natsu smirks. But the small grin leaves as he grabs onto the others wrist and launches him out the guild doors.

"Graahhh!" The fox shouts as he smashes into the thick wood, forcing them to open and let him pass. Skidding on the grass outside he finally stops after rolling a few yards, once he stops he stands to prepare himself for the battle ahead of him.

"Here's some advice. For one," Natsu's voice echos as he walks out of the guild hall, cracking his knuckles. "If you're going into the dragons den, don't challenge it." The pinkette walks out onto the field, boring holes into the other. "Two; don't be so nosey."

"But what if we fight you in our spirit forms!?" Kitsune spouts out. "I'm sure you won't be able to kill us if we all do that! I'm sure you can't defeat us, so we can fight alongside the mages and win!"

After a moment of staring at each other, Natsu lets his hands fall limp at his side. Closing his eyes and looking up a sigh escapes his lips.

"And you're just too stubborn yourself." He begins, opening his eyes, staring at the wispy clouds above. "You'll come even if I say no." Wise and Kitsune share a look of triumph as he continues. "Fine." His gaze returns to the fox spirit. "But you're not off the hook for attacking me."

"Wha-" In an after image of fire, Natsu appears below Kitsune, knees bent and fist cocked back. The fox has no time to react as the fist comes flying towards his face. " **WAAHHHH** HHHHHHhhh _hh_!" Everyone just watches in horror as he goes flying, sparking out like a star in the sky.

"So, what does the King have to say about this?" Natsu turns to the owl spirit, who trembles under the others slight glare.

"H-he's watching the one who lost your key..." At this an evil grin spreads across his face, and as he cracks his knuckles his eyes shine in a newfound goal. The sight sending shivers down everyone's spines.

"Yes, I do need to pay Ellery a visit." As he finishes, people begin to pray for this 'Ellery' person.

"The person who lost your key?" Erza asks, marching up to the pinkette who had calmed down.

"Wise, I need you to explain. I have to go." Natsu turns to the owl who bows in response, before vanishing in a sphere of flames. The ground beneath where he was scorched black.

"Well?" Erza taps her foot, turning to the remaining spirit.

"Well, as you know, us Double-Keys have two main keys which override all others." The creature begins, getting everyone's attention. The guild gains a record-breaking silence which makes the members feel slightly uncomfortable. "Draco-uh, I mean-Natsu, had entrusted his Double-Keys to two people he had known when he was still alive."

"Who?" Gray speaks up, and Erza sends him a death glare but Wise shows understanding, and waits for a moment before continuing. His voice remaining as calm as before.

"How could they still be alive?" Lucy voice and again Erza looks back with the same devil glare, shutting the blonde up immediately.

"It is not my place to say, but I'm sure you've heard of these people before." This piques everyone's interest as they go through their memories for anyone that would fit the description. "You wouldn't know these people personally, he gave them his keys maybe... just above 600 years ago? I don't know, I didn't exist then. But they were once close friends, and because he's the most powerful spirit, his keys must be kept safe."

"What's so special about keeping the keys safe?" Lucy speaks up, trying to connect un-numbered dots.

"With both keys, the person would be able to force Natsu to unleash his 'spirit form'." Leo-who came of his own free will-raises a brow at this.

"'Spirit form'?" Wise scans the crowd full of confused faces, before giving a heavy sigh.

"We Double-Keys have two forms. Our humanoid one-the one you see us in on Earthland-and our spirit form. It's more powerful, and if unleashed on Earthland could be disastrous. _Especially_ if Natsu were forced to transform."

"I have to ask, but didn't Natsu say that you all died-and therefore-lived once?" Wise nods to Lisanna's question, skeptic about where this is going. "So who were you before? And who was Natsu? And... Kitsune?" Dropping his head, Wise closes his charcoal eyes for a moment, before looking up at the whitette.

"Natsu before was Natsu Dragneel. But all the other keys don't know. We don't know the faces of people we had met, let alone our own. Neither do we know our real names."

"Why?" Levy looks up from the book she's reading, pushing her glasses back up. The spirit moves his gaze to the mage and answers her question.

"Well, it goes along with one of the ways we can disappear. Natsu and the Celestial Spirit King took those things from us, and the day we either choose to die or we are near death, they will tell us our name."

"And what will that do?" Mira prodes.

"It'll return our memories, and we will pass on, never to return."

"So why don't these rules apply to Natsu?" Lucy is the next to intrude, and irritation begins to spread through the spirit at their eagerness.

"Because, young key holder, he never passed on in the first place. He stayed in the spirit realm for 70 years before convincing the King to make the keys."

 **A/N: Well, here's another quick chapter. This story is only six chapters long so we're already halfway through. Again, I really do need to go through and rewrite this but I'll do that if plenty of people even want me to (or just because I'm not really satisfied with it). I'd definitely make the chapters longer... I should probably start working on that but first should do my other stories that I've taken WAY too long to update, I'm so sorry! I love you all! Also, I won't have my computer for the next week so there will be no updates or working on stories during that time, sorry! Til next time, see ya!**


	4. That was Quick

**Chapter 4: That was Quick**

 _"Well, it goes along with one of the ways we can disappear. Natsu and the Celestial Spirit King took those things from us, and the day we either choose to die or we are near death, they will tell us our name."_

 _"And what will that do?" Mira prodes._

 _"It'll return our memories, and we will pass on, never to return."_

 _"So why don't these rules apply to Natsu?" Lucy is the next to intrude, and irritation begins to spread through the spirit at their eagerness._

 _"Because, young key holder, he never passed on in the first place. He stayed in the spirit realm for 70 years before convincing the King to make the keys."_

"So Natsu died. We all lived and died. But he... what? You said he didn't pass on, what does that mean?"

"Natsu understands the process better than me," Wise admits with a shrug, "but yes, you all lived and died. But when someone dies they, well _some_ spirits went to Limbo. Those who went to Limbo can then choose to pass on and go to the world of the spirits, but since Limbo became the Celestial Spirit Realm people now go straight to what you may call their next journey in the afterlife or heaven."

"Interesting." Makarov says with a nod of his head. "So what I'm understanding is that Natsu died but never passed on so he remembers his previous life and has the ability to help other spirits pass on, is that correct?"

"Yes, more or less." Wise confirms.

"Then-"

"MASTER MAKAROV!" A civilian bursts through the door, interrupting Cana's drunken question _**(which was probably a good thing)**_. Getting over the initial shock, they notice the terror-stricken face the person holds.

"What is it?" Makarov tries to remain calm, but a lump of fear fills a pit in his stomach. The person doesn't answer, however, for a voice booms throughout Magnolia.

" _ **Fairy Tail Mages,**_ " it speaks, and all the members-plus Wise-rush out of the guild doors. Mages dressed in black cloaks are standing on top of multiple buildings, prepared to cause havoc. When the Fairy Tail mages step out it seems to be their cue and immediately a fire spawns on a building and the mages disperse. _How did they get here so fast!?_ Makarov fumes at the sight, but soon his eyes find a group of five approaching the guild hall. All walking down the street, smiles of triumph plastered on their faces. " _ **we have come to take the key which you have for the spirit 'Draco'.**_ " The person leading the group enhances his voice with magic. Red eyes sending chills down their spines.

"Go!" Makarov shouts and many members immediately race into the mess of civilians and the odd dark mage and Juvia gets to work on putting out the fire.

"Draco!?" Wise shouts, jumping to the front of the group, wings slightly unwrapped. And then they see, in all his glory and power, a certain pinkette standing beside the dark haired spokesman.

"Hey guys." Natsu gives a half-hearted smile, but his eyes plead for forgiveness.

"WE'RE HERE!" A voice shouts from nowhere, and suddenly beside Wise appears a familiar fox spirit. And one-by-one many other similar spirits appear around the two. Lucifer-the one Team Natsu had seen earlier-appears at the head of the group.

"Are we late?" A wolf humanoid asks. He curls his hands into fists, straining against the wraps covering them.

"N-no..." Lucy hesitantly answers, awed at the sudden appearance of the group.

"Great! Finally I can let off some steam." Another speaks, and this one is covered in lava and flames, with heated, metallic branches of wings floating just off his forearm.

"Are you ready, Draco?" The voice echos from another cloaked spirit. White, angel wings spread out behind him.

"The Spirit King is gonna be so mad at us..." A person shining a white blue, with short hair and two antlers, speaks up. Voice almost too quiet to hear.

"Aw, cheer up, Constellation!" Clamping a hand down on her shoulder is a smaller girl. Pale skinned, with a sword on her left side, wearing battle armour but still showing a fair amount of skin.

"We must do this, for Draco." One says as it steps beside Lucifer, wearing a blue dress which flutters at the slightest movement. Brushing a blue strand from her face she stares at the next person who speaks.

"Now now, Bristol. I never thought you'd be the one to begin a battle!" Everyone turns their gaze to her, and the gasp that floats through the air says; snakes. Half of the woman's body is that of a golden snake, ending with purple tipped tail. All boys swoon at her uncovered top, breasts barely covered by two of the many snakes that make up her hair.

"Now is _not_ the time. Bristol, Medusa." Stepping between the two is a centaur. The centaur seems older with long green hair and a beard, wearing accessories of all kinds. It's purple face more animalistic than human because of its black nose and long pointed ears.

"Oak, there's nothing you can do to stop them." The lava-child grins mischievously, yellow eyes _lit_ erally set ablaze.

"Phire-" The winged and cloaked male starts, but it's too late.

"I guess if you think some petty fight is more important than Natsu, neither of you will get him." With the damage done, other spirits slowly back away from the named 'Phire'. And the two females march up to him. Shadows cast over their faces, sparks where their eyes should be.

" _What was that, Phire?_ " Bristol's voice is demonic, contradicting her angelic figure. And Medusa's snakes go around her head, purple heads hissing in fury as she lifts her own hand, sharp purple nails aimed at his throat.

"What do we have here? Is this all of them, Draco?" The voice snaps the spirits out of their anger and fear while it alerts the Fairy Tail guys to clean up the nose bleeds.

"Do you have to ask?" Natsu rolls his eyes at the man, which makes his vein twitch in anger.

"Give us the key, Fairy Tail mages, and we'll leave without a fight." Before anyone else can reply, Lucy speaks up.

"This is my best friends key, I won't give it to someone who'll use it to hurt him!"

"Plus, then I'll never get to test my ice against flamebrain's celestial flames."

"Yeah!"

"You can't have it!" Fairy Tail cheers after Gray's add-on response. The double-key spirits smile at the loyalty the humans display for their fellow spirit.

"Draco." Dain says and with a sigh Natsu snaps his fingers and a blinding light flashes. The Fairy Tail mages are instantly attacked but they can't see a thing. As the light dissipates few are left standing. Gray had immediately summoned a shield which protected him and a few others from the attacked, Erza had sensed the attack and is currently blocking a member with her sword, the same could be said for Mira except she's in her demon form and holding one by the throat. Gramps hand in enlarged and he had obviously slapped a handful of members away while Lucy had been protected by a now alert Taurus.

"Seems this will be more difficult than we thought." One of the three robed mages beside the leader states but their smile is still intact. Laxus flashes beside his grandfather and crosses his arms.

"We'll take care of these scum." He states and Mira and Gajeel come up beside the second generation Dragon Slayer.

"Gihee." Gajeel chuckles and cracks his knuckles while Mira spreads out her wings.

"Take care of the Fairies." The leader says with a rather lazy wave of his had and the three step up to face the dragon slayers and demon.

"To beat a dragon slayer of my element would be the greatest honor." One of the mages says, however all of the guild members immediately look at the person in shock. Obviously they didn't understand how a slayer has an advantage when fighting someone of their own element. The only exception is when they fight another slayer of the same element, and still Dragon Slayers have always prevailed.

"Isn't that ignorant." Laxus says and scoffs. The person steps up and flashes out their hand to their side, lightning sparking around it.

"But I'm not wrong." They say and it's Gajeel's turn to chuckle. "Let's just take these guys out." The dark mage and obviously the leader of the trio says and steps forward.

"Idiots." Carla says under her breath as the six clash and it's obvious who will win. Laxus takes down the lightning mage immediately and makes a point of not even using his magic, he simply slams the person into the ground and knocks him out with the force of it.

Gajeel doesn't take his person out nearly as quickly as Laxus but he takes his time toying with his person. For all these guys sneered at others, they didn't really back it up.

Mira just stares at her opponent and neither move for some time, sizing each other up, but her fight ends much the same as Laxus', quick and easy as they fly past each other, the dark mage unsheathing a previously hidden sword. Mira undoes her takeover before it's decidedly but rather obviously over, however a cut does show itself across her shoulder, but it's not too deep and the dark mage collapses.

"Oh!" Mira exclaims and places her hand on the cut. Next Gajeel just knocks his guy out as the tries to sneak up behind the dragon slayer.

"We were worried about these guys?" Gajeel says with a scoff, but then the whole group is surrounded and they all get the vibe that these guys are stronger. One of them shoots out a powerful blast of some kind of dark blue magic and Gray makes haste in setting another more powerful shield in front of everyone.

"Well shit." Gajeel curses as he looks at the mages. You'd think they'd send out their strongest with the leader. Was this the plan all along, get them to let down their guard? Dain just cackles and Gray wipes the sweat off his face as they look at the dark mages surrounding them.

"Now you understand the situation." The smile Dain wears sends shivers down everyone's spines, and the spirits on the field share worried glances.

"He's-" Kitsune speaks up, but before he can finish, Dain does.

"Draco, _spark._ " Once again a blinding light fills the battle field, and Natsu's red eyes are the only thing visible through it to the Fairy Tail the light precedes there are no longer humanoid creatures standing before them. But large, magical and mythical beasts, ready for battle.

On the ground is an owl-looking creature, but without wings and is more bear-like with sharp, black deadly claws. To its right it stands Lucifer who hadn't transformed as everyone else had. To Lucifer's right it a red fox that's as tall as the two beside it, red wings tucked into its side. Strange, lighter markings covering its entire body. A ways behind it stands a starlight deer, antlers arching above its head like a large, crescent moon.

To the side stands something many people cower beneath. A large, brown wolf that towers just below the guild hall. With multiple tails and spikes spiraling from its shoulder blades. Blue carvings covering its body in different designs. In the middle of the crowd is a thing that looks like a mix between a demon and a gryffin that has a demonic, pointed face with black horns protruding from the back of its skull. Dark wings partially unfolded from its size to add to its ferocity.

"Are you guys ready?" The voice echos from nearby the crowd, and they turn to see a sparkling, almost ghostly dove fluttering above the crowd with a strange green sprite with a colorful, wooden mask, riding on top of it. And that's when everyone sees the things floating above them.

A large blue snake floats above them with a size that rivals a dragon, and with spikes on its size in various places. The snake is circling a large phoenix with fire sporting from between its wing feathers, and the two feathers that come off its head.

Hovering the closest to the ground is a white pegasus, the size of a normal horse, With green bird wings protruding from its back. The pegasus looks down onto the mages below and lands, hoofs clicking on the ground.

"Do not be frightened." Its voice they instantly recognize as Oak's; the centaur. "This is just our spirit forms."

"Yeah! Did we really have to come and transform?" The voice booms down to earth, but the male voice is unmistakably the one they had seen being called Phire; the lava boy Or, now in this case, the phoenix.

"Shut up, you know this is just in case Draco transforms!" The wolf barks up at them, silencing everyone.

"Wow, they all must be so powerful..." Lucy's says in awe while looking at the towering figures of the serpent, fox, and phoenix. The bird spirit and its rider, Bristol and Quadria, comment on Lucy's words.

"Kitsune's the strongest after Draco." The bird speaks first.

"The red winged fox." Quadria says as she sees Lucy's confusion.

"Wait, the most powerful spirit isn't _them_?" Wendy asks as she looks up at the spirits, jaw dropped.

"Nope. Are you done?" The fox growls at them and their carelessness. "Natsu's about to blow!" At this the dove turns in shock, before narrowing her eyes on Natsu's form. Just then realizing he's surrounded by a sphere of fire, which is slowly dying out making him look like an ember. The only thing seen through the flame are the red eyes on the dark figure.

"What's going on?" Erza questions, eyes narrowing onto the form of her comrade.

"He's putting him into his spirit-humanoid-form." Bristol elaborates,"Natsu, unlike us, never passed on. Therefore he never lost his original form; the form you guys know. But, since he has a spirit form he must transform into his spirit-humanoid-form first, it's a process that takes a few steps. But his spirit form is powerful enough to need it."

"What?" Lisanna asks and the Fairy Quadria rolls her eyes.

"Basically," Quadria begins to sum it up,"Natsu has three forms; human-his original, the one he lived and died in. Spirit-humanoid-form, one much like ours where he looks like a mix between a human and a dragon. And then his spirit form; where he _is_ a dragon."

"Oh..." The guild members nod in understanding, while Quadria seems to give a triumphant look from beneath her mask at Bristol. Everyone pauses as they hear the fire give one last snap before sizzling out to reveal the enemy-turned friend.

His red-scale wings, with their long, blinding white feathers, have black claws on their bend like a bat. His head has it's yellow-scale crown, going from his forehead and his tail's bright feathers are as blinding as his wings. His sandals and shirt are ripped from the growth of red scales and his feets black claws. He looks something like a centaur, his legs covered in red scales and shaped as a dragons, sweats still intact. His chest now has large, white scales with a holy glow beneath them, more prominent than before.

"Well, Fairy Tail. Double-keys, you ready to take me on?" His gleaming red eyes show two black, dragon-slit pupils as he scans the crowd. The look he sends is full of power and sends shivers down the mages spines, but smiles grow on the spirits faces.

"Let's go!" Kitsune shouts, taking a large, arching leap towards the smirking Natsu.

"Things are gonna get really dangerous, really fast." Bristol turns to the mages who watch the fox fly through the air.

"We aren't leaving!" Mira states and the pegasus smiles as he gallops over.

"No, but your priority should be to get the townspeople out of here and-"

"Incoming!" Natsu's cheerful voice screams, and everyone turns to see the fox flying towards them. A few listen to his order and jump from the crowd. The others get pushed along as the fox flys through them.

"Oi! Dain! I'm gonna move location!" Natsu smiles, and before the other can object, spreads his wings and blasts upwards. Slamming into an unsuspecting phoenix and scaring a floating blue serpent.

"Dammit, that spirit..." Dain curses under his breath, and the dragon slayers strain their ears to listen to his last sentence;"but as long as I get his second original key, I'll have total control over him. And then his spirit form will be mine!"

Gajeel, Laxus and Wendy share a look of shock at his words, before turning to look where Natsu had blasted off to.

"Medusa! Come and pick up these mages!" Gwyneth; the demonic-gryffin-raven thing, shouts out.

"Why do we have to bring them!?" She complains, coming down to the ground where the mages see she's longer than Blue Pegasus' Christina.

"Just do it! He's giving us a chance to not let us destroy the town! Lets go!" Oak's voice orders,

"We'll take care of these guys and show them what Fairy Tail is made of!" Mira states and once again goes into her Satan Soul form.

"Let's bring him back!" Lucy pumps a fist, and Erza begins to herd them onto the snake.

"We have no time to waste!" She orders, everyone quickly slipping onto the creature.

"I'm coming too!" Makarov jumps onto Oak, and the snake takes flight after Oak, the others soon following.

Natsu stands in the middle, back towards the group as they approach and land. The mages walk parallel of Natsu, consisting of; Erza, Lucy, Gray, and of course Makarov.

"Draco, do you honestly expect to win?" The large wolf's voice booms as he enters the clearing, his paw crushing a small tree on the edge.

"I might, but it's not what I'm hoping for." At this he finally turns around, a smile plastered onto his face at the sight of his guild members and spirit friends. "You ready?"

 **A/N: Wow, I completely reformed the beginning of this chapter while I was supposed to be just simply editing it. Well then, I hope it's better and I hope you like it. Thank you all so much for reading this, really, I appreciate it! Til next time! See ya!**


	5. END

**Chapter Five** : **E.N.D.**

 **A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait, but here are the last two chapters to start your year off with. Woohoo it's 2018!**

 _"Draco, do you honestly expect to win?" The large wolf's voice booms as he enters the clearing, his paw crushing a small tree on the edge._

 _"I might, but it's not what I'm hoping for." At this he finally turns around, a smile plastered onto his face at the sight of his guild members and spirit friends. "You ready?"_

"Why don't you just go against him!?" Bristol spouts out, Quadria watching her ride on the head.

"But I wanna fight!" He whines like a child, and everyone sweatdrops at his reaction.

"Well then..." Kitsune starts, bending his knees,"Lets GO!" The fox launches towards him and everyone follows in suit. The spirits trade blow after blow with Natsu, who easily just blocks and dodges most of the time.

"Foxes Wing-!"

"Serpents Poison-!"

"Demonic Griffin's-!"

"Wolf's Dark Orb-!"

"Bears Feathered Slash!" The attacks are shouted out at the same time and the words seem to blend together. The area is soon consumed by a balance of light and dark, blinding all the spectators. A huge shockwave almost throws everyone from where they stand, and the mages hold onto the ground for dear life.

"You might want to stand back." Lucifer's gruff voice speaks from beside Makarov, taking the mages out of their daze as the wind settles.

"No! We're here to help, no matter what we can do!"

"Then get in there..." He pauses, red eyes narrowing into slits,"Wait a moment." Just as he finishes a familiar voice belows a counter.

"STARLIGHT FIRE DRAGONS ROAR!" And the fire-infused darkness cuts through the ground and sends all of the spirits flying deeper into the forest. Trees, dirt and grass are torn from the ground mercilessly, thrown every which way. The air is filled with a brown cloud which fills the mages vision.

As the dirt settles they look out and see a form laying and parallel to it is a section of the forest where it was cut out by the previous attack. Lucy's the first to go up to the figure, soon followed by the spirits who had gone back to their humanoid forms.

"Natsu...?" Lucy speaks up, seeing the person not getting up from where he lays on his back.

"Hmm?"

"You okay now?"

"Perfect. I needed to let off some steam."

"We're sorry, Dra-"

"MAVIS LIMBO! QUIT CALLING ME DRACO!" The pinkette sits up, a fire blazing behind his eyes as he stares at the deer-human.

"I-I'm sorry..." Guilt flashes on his face as he stands to comfort the spirit, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Constellation. I've been holding in my temper for a long time now."

"So are you coming home now?" Wise speaks, stopping his examination of his staff to glance at the alpha key spirit.

 **-x-**

Back at Magnolia the Fairy Tail mages are holding their ground, Wendy is helping to balst through them with her roar mixing with Gajeels.

"They're stronger than we thought!" A dark mage shouts as she barely misses the attack only to be taken down by Pantherlily.

"I feel we have it easy." Carla says as she looks to where all the spirits went.

"Oui!"

"Juvia has taken care of the fire." Juvia says but she's completely exhausted. Wendy immediately goes to the water mages aid but behind them comes a dark mage ready to attack.

"Juvia!" Wendy shouts, completely unaware of the danger behind her.

"Wendy!" Carla shouts. She wasn't looking for just a second, and now she'd be too late! Wendy looks behind her but instead of letting the shock get to her she narrows her eyes.

"Sky Dragons ROAR!" She shouts out quickly, and although it isn't strong it's enough to blast the person back. Carla sighs in relief and smiles at the girl she'd grown with. _She's become so powerful_. The exceed smiles at the girl and places a hand on her heart.

 **-x-**

"Draco!" Daine bursts from the trees, followed by a small group of cloaked mages who chose to stay with him.

"Shit." Natsu hisses under his breath, narrowing his eyes as he stares at the person who had put him through all of this.

"Lets go, Dragon's Wrath!" Daine shouts out, and the mages behind him launch forward, taking on the spirits.

Now in their human forms the spirits battle against the mages, with the few Fairy Tail mages joining soon afterwards.

Trading blow after blow, people are being thrown by the force of the spirits and Natsu can only watch. Makarov stomps on people as Erza cuts others down. Gray is pummeling them with his respective and element and Lucy with her many spirits.

But somebody just _had_ to attack Daine in the middle of it all.

Medusa, the hot-headed serpent of the double-keys, the one who acts before thinking. She sends her snakes to bite all enemy's around her- and one just happened to be the key holder.

In a flash of fire and darkness, Natsu appears in the field. Holding the purple snake by its jaw and neck, inches from his own face. Teeth bared he throws it back towards the girl, making her lean back by the force put into it. Many people pause at this, while a smirk grows on Daine's face.

"Go, Draco! Attack!"

"No." The dark-haired mage blanks out for a moment, and everyone else sweatdrops. As the faze passes a twitch appears on his forehead, and Daine marches up to Natsu, jabbing a finger in his chest.

"I summoned _you_. You are _my_ spirit! You will do as I say!"

"I'm not a damn pokemon!" He says, which confuses many people, because what _is_ a pokemon? "And I am not _your_ spirit!" Natsu barks back, taking a step towards the man, and fear flashes across the others face.

"You can't attack me! You have to _protect_ me!" Dain says and the pinkette snarls. Natsu threateningly reels back a fist, preparing to blast the other in the face. "Do it." Dain sneers and Natsu yanks his fist down angrily.

"I can't wait to beat you." Natsu says darkly but Dain makes sure it doesn't get to him because he has _the_ key. Now he just need the other one.

" _Attack_." Dain orders again and points the key at Natsu's chest. Natsu then looks at Medusa and rolls his eyes. In a flash he's beside her but the tip of her tail is in his hand and she looks at him in shock and understanding.

"Sorry, 'Dusa." He says and then sends her flying into the air. She shouts as she goes sailing and everyone witnesses it. Natsu then points his finger at Kitsune and fire forms at the end, powerful and condensed. He shoots the beam and not everyone watches it but everyone feels the fire hit and it shakes the ground. The fox screams out because _damn_ that hurt.

It triggers something. Something few understood, but one person meant.

"This is your fault." Natsu states but he's smiling. Everyone feels that a mistake was made on someones part as an immense force begins to take form. A vortex appears as the sky looks like it's being sucked into the darkness of space. Suddenly a majestic form surrounded in light floats above them in all his glory

"C-CELESTIAL SPIRIT KING!" Everyone shrieks-well, everyone except Natsu, that is.

"Hey! Mr. Limbo! Great to see you!" Natsu waves up at the named Spirit King, who lifts a foot above the surprised boy. A twitch mark appears on the King's forehead forms as a cold sweat envelopes the pinkettes body. "Eh?"

Not a moment later the foot slams down on top of him, and everyone goes wide-eyed at the scene. After a moment of silence the titan lifts its foot to show the form of a certain mage burrowed into the dirt below.

Reaching down the king pulls the kid out and drops him on the ground.

" **There, that's your punishment.** " After a moment Natsu slowly stands, rubbing a big lump on his head. All the dark mages just watch, completely unsure of what to do because of the Spirit King's appearance. Because what _could_ they do? Many run yet Daine is still there, but even he is frozen in fear.

"A-ahh, yeah." He looks up at the titan before regaining his composure. "So-" But before he can start, the king pulls a shape out from behind him. The dark form in his hand becomes visible as he brings his hand down, and everyone gasps at the sight.

It's a girl, well, something like that. With shoulder-length pink hair and a black robe with white trimmings, showing her shoulders and cleavage. It's open at her stomach, flowing out behind her.

Stepping from the spirit kings hand, she touches the dirt with a bare foot, tripping slightly before stumbling a bit. Comically falling onto her face, which takes everyone off-guard. As she stands she wipes as much dirt as possible from her black sweats that are identical to Natsu's style.

And then they see something they're surprised they didn't see first.

Two golden horn curl from the top of her head forward slightly, stopping like a crown above her forehead.

"Ellery?" Natsu's voice breaks the overbearing silence, and a grin nearly identical to Natsu's spreads across her face.

"Nii-san!" The girl leaps into the other pinkettes welcoming embrace, and it takes everyone a moment to process what she had just said.

"NII-SAN!" The guild members shout with some of the spirits, while some others just stare wide-eyed- except Lucifer, he just smiles fondly.

"Nii-san?" Dain says quietly with wide eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Natsu breaks from the hug, looking into her onyx eyes.

"Ehe... The Spirit king brought me..." Both pinkettes look up at the titan before turning to the group behind them as the shrieks grow louder.

"W-wait, how is that possible? Aren't you a really old spirit? If you had a sister she'd be dead." Lucy gasps, rapidly pointing between the two.

"Ah, well, it's a long story we can deal with later, but..." Natsu turns his glare to the horned beauty,"this can't." He takes his index finger and pokes her forehead, eyes shining with fury.

"Natsu-nii...?"

"You lost my key."

"T-that happened forever ago... what was it-"

"THIRTY YEARS!" She jumps back as his scream echos in her ears, and she looks up guiltily.

"W-well, I have a lot on my mind. What did you say? Thirty years? My, how the time flies. It seems like yesterday when-"

"You DITCHED _my key_ on the side of some _dirt road_ so you could-" Natsu gets cut off as Erza stomps up to them, every one else soon following behind her. She glares at the female pinkette as she analyzes her, specifically the horns. "This is Ellery Dragneel." Wrapping a hand around her shoulders Natsu hugs the younger girl, completely rid of the earlier anger.

"How is that possible?" Gray asks and steps beside Erza and Makarov, arms crossed in front of his now bare chest.

"That's where _he_ comes into play." Ellery sneers, a wicked smile creeping onto her face. The action sends shivers down everyone's spines with the smile and horns combo. Really, all these women are demons.

"God! Why'd you have to come now!" From the nearby edge of the meadow, out from the forest comes a rather depressed looking man. With dark hair, and a black cloak with a white sash.

" _ **Zeref!?**_ " The Celestial Spirit King grinds his teeth at the sight of the man, but doesn't advance towards him. This gets everyone else's attention as they turn from Natsu to the named 'Zeref'.

"ZEREF! As in then black mage Zeref!? Creator of Deliora and Lullaby?" The mages shriek while the spirits put their guard up. The spirits all look to Natsu and wait for his response as Zeref comes closer to the group.

"Damn..." The pinkette hisses under his breath, before taking a step towards the dark mage, between him and his sister.

"Natsu, do you _know Zeref?!_ " Makarov speaks up, completely shocked by the turn of events.

"Fairly well, actually." He says, turning his sight to his sister, who cracks her knuckles, grin still plastered onto her face. Zeref is now close to the group, and in perfect range for her. "Ellery-"

"Zeref!" The girl cuts him off, her smile broadening to look a lot like Natsu's own. "Lets finish this!" She jumps towards him, fist cocked back.

"I've been waiting for-"

"NO!" Natsu shouts, slamming a fist onto both of their heads. His eyes closed, a twitch beating on his forehead as anger courses through his body. "Can't we have a reunion where you guys are _not_ trying to kill each other!?" Everyone stares at the subdued dark mage, who had been pummeled into the earth so easily.

"Sorry, Natsu-nii..."

"Sorry, Natsu." Even Zeref apologizes with a bow, shocking all the witnesses.

"Okay then!" He gives a clap, gaining everyone's attention. "I have some explaining to do, don't I?"

"YES!" Everyone shrieks, eyes round and some anger going through the air.

"Well, where do I start..."

"You're bad at stories, Natsu, let me do it." This is Zeref who speaks, but nobody objects, so he begins. "Well, centuries ago I had met Ellery and Natsu Dragneel in a forest."

 **Flashback**

The black mage was simply walking around, avoiding all life he could. He knew where he was, was generally safe because this was dragons territory. Other than the dragon, he doubted he would find life to kill with his magic. Walking along an unset path he finds his way to a clearing.

"Hey, mister!" A young pink haired girl speaks to him. Her wild hair is forced into a high pony tail, missing a few loose strands which curl to framer her face. Her loose garments consist of a white tank top and shorts. "Whatcha doing here?"

A young male comes out from the trees. His body is covered in small scratches and burns. The striking thing about him is the same untameable pink hair that bounces on top of his head as he walks.

"What is it, Ellery? I thought I told you... WHO'RE YOU!" The boy walks in casually, but upon seeing the stranger he takes up a defensive stance between the two. It's obvious to Zeref that he's more protective and older than the girl.

"Just a traveller. Nothing you should worry yourself over." Apparently those were the wrong words to say as the boy takes an offensive stance, onyx eyes narrowing on his opponent.

"What do you mean? Normal people don't just walk into Igne-" The girl begins to say but the boy cuts her off.

"ELLERY!" The boy jumps back and covers her mouth. _So these kids are from the dragons guardian village..._

"I'm sorry to intrude, I should just leave."

"No. What's your name? I'm Natsu and this is Ellery." The sudden change in attitude catches the male off-guard, and he says his name out of habit to the question.

"Zeref." The two freeze, before a smile graces their lips.

"Stay right here-wait, no. Ellery, you go and..." the mage can't hear the rest of the sentence as the boy whispers into the girls ear. When he finishes she nods and leaves the meadow.

"So... Zeref, where are you going?"

"Wherever my feet take me."

"Whoa! I wish I could do that!" His eyes sparkle as he speaks, taking a step towards the other, the dark mage takes a step back.

 **End**

"Wait, what do you mean by the 'dragons guardians' or whatever you said?" Gray speaks up, ignoring the fact that he just interrupted the most dangerous mage in history.

"Well, back when I was a kid and alive, Dragon Guardian Villages existed. These villages are pretty self explanatory; they protect the dragon of the area in which they live. Our dragon was Igneel."

"Wait, I've been meaning to ask, was your story about Igneel even true?" Gajeel interrupts him, eyeing his sister up and down, eyes filled with distrust.

"Yes and no." Before he can continue all eyes turn to Ellery as she picks it up.

"Unlike me, Natsu-nii was trained by Igneel. But Igneel didn't leave him the year he says he did. Our village was raided some time after we met Zeref... Do you want me to continue?" She turns to the person she had interrupted, and he gives a sharp nod. "Well, they killed everyone, and even Natsu-nii fought the people. But they were mages, and very powerful. Our village had mages, too. Everyone that Igneel deemed worthy had been trained in fire dragon slaying magic, like Natsu. I was too young so even if he might have trained me I was never taught. Well, with the attack happening, Zeref came and saved Natsu-nii and I."

"Which I am _still_ mad about! I could've taken them on!" Natsu turns to Zeref, eyes ablaze with anger.

"Your dragon told me to save you, his current disciple, and I chose to save your sister as well. But, if you are still mad at me, then..." Zeref says and steps towards Natsu with eyes showing his recognition.

"Don't finish that thought!" Natsu tackles the mage to the ground, forcing Zeref to think more about the shock of it then his sentence. "You suicidal fool! Quit it! Ellery, just continue!"

"Maybe you should, Natsu-nii. I passed out after Zeref saved me..."

"Fine!" He growls, getting off of the black mage and wiping the dust from his cloak. "Well, after Ellery passed out and Zeref was dragging me around the forest, he began to have an... episode."

"An 'episode'?" Makarov speaks up, keeping a trained eye on the said wizard.

"Yes, it's when my death magic erupts from me, killing all life around me." Everyone freezes, and soon Zeref finds himself speaking to a group that had shuffled a few yards away.

"Anyway..." Natsu sweatdrops as he watches the Fairy Tail members hide behind his patient spirits. "He told me to run from him, and so I grabbed Ellery. I made it a few feet before the magic went off. I had thrown Ellery out of the magic's radius, but I wasn't so lucky. But I didn't die, instead Igneel's scarf turned a cold black."

"You had your scarf at the time?" Wendy asks, to which the older slayer just nods.

"Well, in that time, some of the people who had attacked our village found us. I was the only one able to really fight, because Ellery was knocked out and Zeref wasn't exactly... stable. And so I fought the mages. Thank goodness there was a fire one that replenished my energy, apparently they didn't know they were pursuing a dragon slayer.

"I fought for what seemed like forever, protecting both Zeref and Ellery. When finally all the mages were down. Picking up Ellery I walked back to Zeref who was slowly regaining his mental state. But one of the mages-the ice one-shot an attack at me. I was carrying Ellery and it pierced both her and me. I'm just thankful she was unconscious and didn't feel the attack at all, but I dropped her. It had gone straight through my lower chest, and Ellery's stomach." Natsu says and places his hand where he had once been pierced. "Well, Zeref went ballistic when he saw the wound. His magic, once again, released, except we weren't affected, but everyone else was killed."

"You were conscious!?" Lucy shrieks, putting a hand on her heart, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Happy had started crying when he had heard the villagers were killed. And Wendy's tears are already spilling in a steady stream.

"Yes..." Clearing his throat, Natsu continues,"Well, how about you continue, Zeref?" The dark mages eyes go wide at this, before going to their original, bland state as he begins.

"I raced to their side. Natsu's wound was worse, and I was going to try and save him-but he was awake. He asked me if I could save Ellery. I knew a way, and I said yes, but it had its consequences. Well, being Natsu, he didn't care, and forced me to save the girl first. I did, but..."

"You were unable to save Natsu, right?" Erza says, she doubted Natsu had 'died' at a later event. And Zeref's nod was her answer.

"I died, and the consequence of saving Ellery was turning her into a demon, which is why she's still alive."

"Is her demon name Ellery?" Wendy speaks up, remembering how each of Zeref's demons had their own names.

"Nope! When I became a demon and learned what happened from Zeref, he let me name myself! And since I thought-well, no. Since Natsu _did_ die for me, I made my middle name Natsu!" Everyone contemplates on what she had just said before Lucy gasps. Lifting a shaking hand ot her mouth.

"W-wait, then you're..."

"She's what?" Gray at the blonde, but the old master speaks in her stead.

"Ellery Natsu Dragneel. You're E.N.D. aren't you." Everyone freezes, and turns a slow gaze to the smiling girl, while Natsu puts his guard up. Even if they were his nakama, Ellery is his blood family. She is his sister, and if they attack her, he wasn't just going to sit back and watch. But what would he do?

 **A/N: Thank you all! Onto the next chappie! Happy New Year! Til next time, see ya!**


	6. Family

**Chapter Six: Family**

 _"Ellery Natsu Dragneel. You're E.N.D. aren't you." Everyone freezes, and turns a slow gaze to the smiling girl, while Natsu puts his guard up. Even if they were his nakama, Ellery is his blood family. She is his sister, and if they attack her, he wasn't just going to sit back and watch._

"E.N.D. is... your sister?" Lucy says after processing the information. And Natsu walks next to his sister before nodding.

"The one and only."

"Natsu-nii. I have to go..." At this the dragon slayer turns to the girls pleading eyes, and gives an understanding nod.

"Fine... but I'm not giving you my key!"At this the demon pouts but he just taps her nose. "I'd prefer to give it to someone I trust more like..." Everyone watches him slow down, and his jade eyes go wide before yelling; "ZEREF! Watch out!"

He's too late, and Daine, who everyone knows has lost his mind, tackles the dark mage to the ground. In a quick movement, he steals the key hidden in the white stash. Zeref's magic charges up and Daine is off of Zeref in a second. Eyes wide with horror, all the stellar spirits and Celestial King watch in shock. A low, feral growl escaping Natsu's throat.

"I'm sorry, Natsu-san..."

"Save it, Zeref." Helping the dark mage up he gives a small smile. "It was gonna happen eventually. Thank Mavis you, Ellery, and the spirits are here, though." Turning a hard glare to the key-stealer, Natsu continues. "This is gonna be one hell of a battle."

"HaHAH!" Daine's crazed laugh seems to echo. "You thought _He_ could stop me? Me?! Oh no, and you will all pay for your mistake!"

"Stop him!" Bristol shouts but Daine's remaining lackey's surround him like a protective barrier. The last of them use their magic to create a protective field for their master.

"What's the big deal?" Lucy whispers, and the fox spirit replies;

"This guy, with both keys, can make Natsu go into his spirit form." And just as he says it, the person places both keys side by side and twists them in the air.

" **Oh, by the stars in the heaven,** " Daines voice booms, and Natsu grits his teeth, but as he does the Celestial Spirit King bends down and whispers into his ear. The words help as Natsu calms, and the man continues. " **I command thee to obey my orders! Unleash! The potential thy carries but hides! UNLEASH! OBEY MY COMMAND, DRACO!** "

A blinding light filters through the sky, and when it finally subsides, everyone opens their eyes to see a dragon almost as large as the Celestial Spirit King himself. It has spikes and red scales litter it's body and a white underbelly. It's fangs are sharp and it has a strange crown of golden scales going back from its head.

"NATSU!" The Fairy Tail mages shout, and the dragon spreads its holy feather wings and takes flight. Soaring above everyone they can see some open spots under the scales where a soft glow shows, the tail and feathers have the same shine.

It lands behind Daine, a large dust cloud being created by it upon landing. A smug smile spreads across the dark mages face. Placing a hand on one of its large, black talons, the key holder speaks up.

"How does it feel?" This makes everyone look at each other in question, not knowing what he means, while two specific people feel their dark magic whirl around them. "How does it feel to see the famed Salamander, your guild member and strongest key, fall slave to one such as myself?" Daine elaborates.

" _I_ can't take it anymore!" Ellery growls low, so only Zeref hears it. Eyes going wide the dark mage reaches for his demon but he's too late. "I'm not losing you again! NATSU-NII!" The pinkette lunges, headed for the key holder.

And everyone just watches as everything seems to almost go in slow motion. Ellery's hand being engulfed in a fire-like claw, swiping it towards Daines neck who keeps his smile. Dragon-form Natsu watching her race towards his 'master' with his glowing red eyes. His body forcing him to plunge a black claw down towards his sister.

Opening his jaws he shows a light which glows inside, and a sorrowful cry escapes and shakes the air as his hand slams into the ground. Everything speeds up as soon as the dust cloud lifts. The ground cracks beneath the talons, the fire below it disappearing.

' _Ellery... No! She can't be dead! Ellery!_ ' Natsu stares down at what he had done, not lifting his claw, fearing what he might see. But, upon Daines command, he lifts it only to see something he can't help but be thankful for.

Ellery lays in the claws print, unharmed, eyes wide with shock. And above her is an injured double-key spirit.

" **LUCIFER!** "The Celestial Spirit King howls, glaring at Daine with such ferocity that a smile dares to grace the dragons face. Not a moment later the battle of a lifetime begins. One many thought they would never see.

Dragon-form Natsu goes toe-to-toe with the Spirit King. Sword in hand, the king swings at the dragon, and Natsu retaliates with equal power. Every hit sending a shockwave throughout the forest, sending birds flying and making all spectators cower in fear. Natsu can only roar but the King can understand what the dragons eyes tell him.

"If that is what you wish-!" they get in a stalemate, sword being held in mid-swing as it was flying up towards Natsus face. Claws holding it in its palms by the blades side. "-THEN I SHALL GRANT IT!" The warrior finishes, breaking his blade from the dragons grasp and finishing the attack by hitting the dragon in the chin with the sword. He manages to slightly damage the strong scales, but Natsu fly backwards only slightly.

Watching the battle, everyone can tell the combatants are on a whole different level. Even Makarov feels chills going down his spine as he watches the one he once called his son battle on the same level as the Celestial Spirit King. One known to go on par with Zeref; who is on the same field as them at the moment.

"Z-Zeref-nii!" Ellery screeches, and all eyes return to her and the fallen spirit. Soon, all spirits are racing towards Lucifer, and Zeref to Ellery, the mages on their tail. As they run, the Spirit Kings sword is thrown directly in front of them and they throw themselves to the ground, latching onto it for dear life as the shockwave hits them and the ground cracks around it. After a moment, the collosal item is ripped from the ground. Just in time, too, as the red dragons slash is blocked by the sword.

The mages just watch as the giants exchange blows, and Natsu is thrown into the sky by an upward slice-courtesy of the King. He opens his wings with it an almighty roar and comes back down as if he were a missle. Breaking the sound barrier, he rams into the Spirit King, making a large crater as the two go far into the forest, digging up the earth along the way. An _extremely_ large dust cloud is created, it takes over the majority of the forest, blinding everyone in the area as the two clash. After what seems like forever, the dust settles enough to be able to see, and Lucy pulls the keys from her belt.

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee; Leo!" She summons the said spirit, and Loke doesn't even flirt with her as he feels the Spirit Kings magic in the air. Along with Natsu's-but he can tell the laters feels different in a way he cannot explain.

"What happened?"

"No time to explain! We gotta go!" Lucy orders, and they begin their race to where everyone else lay. She sees Zeref and Ellery having a small conversation, before nodding, agreeing to something, and turning to the circle of Double-key spirits.

Running into the group, they go through the small crowd and see the cloaked spirit laying in Kyuubi's arms.

"Le...o..." The spirit hears the devil keys plea, and walks up to the wounded spirit. Getting on one knee he kneels down.

"Go back to the spirit world, you need to heal."

"I'm... not... gonna make... it..."

"Don't say that."

"He's right. Draco's the one who hit him. He's going to fade." Wise speaks up, stepping towards the two.

"NATSU!? I thought he cared for his spirits! Why, the next time I see him..." Leo speaks through gritted teeth, clenching his fist in anger.

"It-"

"ROOAAAAR!" The red dragon lands just behind the group cluster, and everyone can only stare in shock as it gets up, shaking its head a bit. Everyone gets hit by the shockwave as wind and dust blows through them.

"Natsu!" The Fairy Tail mages shout, and Loke stares at him in awe. He looks at them with a red eye before turning back to his opponent, blocking an attempted jab before smacking the king across the field with his tail.

"KING!" all the spirits-plus Lucy-shout. And the key of the Lion becomes more enraged at Natsu by the second.

"How _dare_ you, Natsu!" He growls out, but the dragon turns its head to face Loke, before tilting it towards Daine as if trying to say something. He then looks down to Lucifer, and a deep growl escapes him. But as Natsu takes a step towards the injured spirit, a voice speaks up.

"NO! Face the Spirit King, and _only_ him!" As ordered, the dragon sends one glance towards the devil key spirit before another voice speaks.

"We'll take care of Daine, Natsu-nii. Don't worry! After all, I have Zeref-nii by my side!" Looking down at his sister and she believes he nodded before taking flight, heading towards where the spirit king waits. Loke turns towards the speaker, and sees the horned pinkette next to the dark wizard.

"Z-Zeref?!" He gasps, completely confused on what's going on.

"Loke, don't freak out. Right now, Zeref is on our side. We just need to do as Ellery said; deal with Daine. Oh, and Ellery is Natsu's sister." Lucy explains, pointing towards Daine when she said his name. Shaking his head, Leo just does as Lucy said, and turns towards Daine, Zeref and Ellery by his side.

"This is... weird." Loke admits, and Ellery looks at him through the corner of her eye.

"Yep! Now lets kill this bastard!" She says in a cheery tone, but her face turns dark, eyes full of hatred.

"Lets go." Zeref says as he launches, and Ellery, Loke, and some of the Fairy Tail mages are close behind. The wizard is caught off-guard by this sudden attack, and is hit with the full force of a kick from the most powerful dark mage of all time.

Flying back into the woods they see as Natsu seems to freeze, the King gets a blow in at that moment, making him fly into another part of the forest, ripping up trees in his wake.

"This'll be easy! I feel ashamed of Natsu-nii-" As she says this a small ball of fire, which really couldn't harm E.N.D., hits Ellery and makes her fly before rolling a few feet. "BAKA!"

"Daine..." Zeref says, walking towards said man, eyes glowing red. "You have done the worst thing you possibly can; hurt Natsu. For that, you will pay with your life." Looking up at the dark mage, Daine gets through his dizzy spell in time to feel Ellery's inflamed fingers wrapped around his throat.

"Ellery-chan is mad that Daine hurt Natsu-nii." She says, her face dark as the man's screams fill the air. She cocks a fist back, but isn't the one to hit him.

"LUCY-KICK!" The man is thrown from her grasp by the attack, and the demon looks to the blonde in confusion as she lands beside her. "He's done." She says, and they watch Gray pick up Natsu's two keys and separate them, a soft 'snap' heard at their breakage. As he breaks them, Dragon-Natsu visibly stops, but the Spirit King doesn't notice and throws a punch which sends Natsu flying all the way across the field.

In mid flight, a light flashes around the creature and he becomes Natsu again. A full-human Natsu with torn up clothes and scratches littering his body. Noticing this, Ellery races to where she thinks her brother will land, a trail of dust behind her.

"I've gotcha, Natsu-nii~!" She screams, her voice growing smaller the farther the goes.

"Whoa." Leo stares in awe as she catches her brother just in time. They all nod in agreement before going to the two pinkettes, one who is shaking her brother to wake him up.

"Natsu-nii! Wake up!" she whines, but smiles as she hears him give a low growl. Looking up, the dragon-slayer glares at the Spirit King before jumping up, flames surrounding his body.

"You BASTARD!" He screeches, preparing shout out a torrent of flames towards the other.

"Natsu-san." A voice interjects, and the pinkette turns to look at the fox spirit. "It's time." Natsu's face drops immediately, and he nods, face grim. Following him, the guild members-plus Zeref and Ellery-join the small circle of spirits as Natsu kneels beside Lucifer.

"I'm sorry... Lucifer." He apologises, but the other shakes his head.

"Don't be... I chose this... Just, don't let me fade..."

"What does he mean by fade?" Lucy whispers, heard by none other than Zeref.

"When a double-key spirit approaches death it's known as fading. It's a rather painful process that makes it so they pass on but never know who they were." Lucy doesn't say anything as she watches the scene with wiser eyes.

"...How can Natsu save him from fading?" Erza speaks up, watching the two converse, and Ellery answers.

"By telling the spirit their name, they pass on painlessly, and live in the next world knowing who they are."

"Brave lion of the Zodiac Keys, will you hear my final request?" The cloaked key speaks up, and Natsu backs off as Loke walks towards him.

"Yes?"

"Will you... take my spot in the Double-Key set?" Everyone seems to freeze at this, and the only noise is leaves dancing in the wind. "It will be hard, and you can decline..."

"I accept." Natsu looks at Loke with wide eyes, before they soften and he nods in approval.

"Then let Rosey turn you into one of us... into one of them." Lucifer gives a strained laugh as Natsu frowns at him, face red in concealed anger. "Do it now, Natsu."

"If you weren't fading right now..." Natsu mumbles under his breath before walking in front of the spirit. Putting his arms outward, palms down. " **I, leader of the Double-Key set,** " he begins, voice booming to the heavens. " **Hereby grant the Spirit of the Devil; Lucifer, his wish to pass on. Let his name be placed in the heavens, as we stay here, living on without him. Let your soul fly past Limbo smoothly, and your powers transfer to the Zodiac Key of the lion; Leo. Arise, Marcus!** " Suddenly, the cloaked man sheds his darkness, which floats up in star dust particles and reveals a middle-aged man. He looks average with short red hair but he is wearing a suit of holy white.

"Marcus, huh. That's pretty lame." Lucifer says and Natsu smiles as Marcus begins to fade into light, floating up into the sky until nothing's left but a pile of odd, dark crystals.

"Goodbye, Lucifer." Natsu places a hand on his heart, soon everyone else following in suit. "Are you ready, Leo?" This catches the said spirit off guard

"Ah... Yeah." The lion steps forward, and Natsu nods. Bending down, he picks up a single, dark crystal, with a deep, violet blue glow inside.

"This is his core power, the rest of this-" he motions to the dark pile of dust,"will react when it accepts you as its new 'master'. It'll hurt at first... are you ready?" Looking down at the pile, imagining what he was just told, he looks at Natsu in confusion.

"Its 'master'?"

"It's a power. I lent it to Marcus, now I'm lending it to you. Do you accept." His eyes gain the determination of a Fairy Tail member and he gives a firm nod.

"Let's do this." Loke says and Natsu holds the crystal in front of Loke, before letting go. It floats in its own small orbit, twisting there for a moment before suddenly exploding into an odd mix of black and gold dust. It covers Leo's body in its small particles.

"Wha-" Lucy begins, but freezes as the rest of the dust follows the former crystal, surrounding him in a cloud of darkness. Screams of pain erupt from inside which put the Fairy Tail members on edge.

"LOKE!" They shout out, reaching for him, only to be stopped by a colossal hand.

" **He chose this, just wait.** " They obey the king and wait for the cloud to disappear.

Standing, a slight dark mist surrounding him, is the one who was once the Zodiac Keys head. It's a lion formed of black wisps, with two glowing red orbs much like how Lucifer's once was. Its claws are a deep black with a strange dark mist surrounding them. Buried into his chest is the dark crystal, glowing in a dirty gold.

"Whoa." Both pinkettes say simultaneously, and Natsu steps forward.

"Well, that's your spirit form, lets see what happened to your human form." Placing his hand on the crystal, he chants something under his breath before backing away. In another blast of the darkness everyone waits in anticipation. They all look to see Loke, and he looks a lot like he used to. A black suit, his hair having two lion ears poking through it, but it also has black streaks. His eyes are still a blood red and the crystal now a small jem on his ring.

"Oh, me likey." Medusa slides up to him, eyeing the new Double-Spirit up and down. "Leo, right?"

"Stop it, Lusty." Phire places his hands on his hips and rolls his eyes.

"AT LEAST SAY SERPENT!" She hisses back at him, her snakes backing her up. She then gives a devious smirk and crosses her arms. "Says number seven."

"-! You're only two levels above me! Lets do this, here and now!" the phoenix's fire starts, and Medusa narrows her eyes, about to go head-to-head with the other.

"Stop it." Natsu's voice is calm as he slams both of their heads together, much like Erza used to with him and Gray. "Now is _not_ the time."

"H-hai..." They both say, eyes circles as they hold their heads.

"What does she mean by 'number seven'?" Leo speaks up, having finished inspecting his new body.

"It's like rank." Wise says, turning to the group. "The strongest is Draco-"

"Natsu." The pinkette throws a stick at the owl spirit who's pointing at him, hitting him in the head.

"Then it's me, the Fox."

"Third was Lucifer..." Wise says as he stands, blood running down his forehead. They share a moment of silence before continuing down the 'list'. "But now third is me."

"The list goes on until it reaches you." Natsu says, trimming the conversation.

"And why am I on the bottom?"

"Because you're new and your rank is unclassified." Constellation then clamps a hand down on his shoulder. "But don't worry, you'll pass everyone up to me at least. We don't put up a fight, we're more support. Everyone's above us."

"O-oh." He says, looking around. _How the hell am I supposed to pass up all the others? They're monsters!_

"Natsu-nii." The voice makes everyone's attention turn to the horned pinkette. "I... we have to go." Zeref nods from beside her, and the fire dragon slayer sighs before surprising the two by enveloping them into a hug.

"I understand." He says, holding them a moment longer before releasing. Putting the two at arm's length. "But first..." He turns to Gray who is still holding his two keys. "My keys?" The ice mage gives them to the Draco spirit, who gives one of them to the creator of demons. "I believe I can still trust you."

"Of course." As he turns around, Ellery looks up expectantly and even reaches for the key. But as her fingers brush it Natsu pulls it away and flicks her head. Rubbing her stinging forehead, she begins to pout.

"Nii-san, do you not trust me anymore?" She asks but Natsu keeps his expression blank.

"No." Turning away from his sulking sister he faces the group of Fairy Tail members. "Listen, I..."

" **Natsu**." The pinkette looks up to one of his closest friends. " **I have made a decision on your fate.** " At this the strongest spirit begins to sweat. " **Your punishment is...** " He squeezes his eyes shut, preparing himself physically and mentally for what is to come. " **That you must from now on remain in, and protect, Fairy Tail. On the condition that you visit us every once in a while.** " Opening his eyes wide with shock, he turns to face the giant.

"M-Mr. Limbo!" He jumps up, arms outstretched and anime tears streaming down his face.

" **Settle down!** " The King lifts a foot and squashes the other under it. " **So, do you, Fairy Tail, accept my terms?** "

"Of course." Makarov smiles up at the spirit king, who finally lifts his foot off the ground.

"I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE UNDER THERE!" Natsu wheezes, holding his chest and coughing while trying to take in much needed air. He then looks to the group of spirits, gaining a more serious expression. "Thank you." He stands and gives a bow of respect, which they brush off.

"Now we're even." The Kitsune says, before one by one they disappear, and lastly, with a big smile and a nod, the spirit King flashes out of Earth-Land.

"Sayonara, Nii-san!~" Ellery yells, waving her hands in a wide arch above her head. Standing at the edge of the clearing.

"See you later, Ellery!" He waves back, before turning around upon hearing another voice.

"I must go, Natsu."

"You and Ellery better not get into any fights before we meet up again!" Natsu calls back to Zeref.

"No promises!" A call comes from the forest opposite of them, and everyone sweatdrops. Turning back to look at the dark mage, he sees he has already vanished. And with a sigh and a heavy heart, he turns to his fellow guild members.

"What now?" Lucy asks, looking around to see they're the only ones in the clearing.

"Well, Luce, I was wondering..." Natsu says, walking up to her with the black key. "If you could hold onto this for me." She smiles at this, and takes the key from his grasp.

"Of course." He gives his usual grin before turning to face everyone else.

"Well then! Let's go home!"

 **-x-x-x-**

A month had gone by, and Loke had risen in the ranks of the double-key spirits, getting above Oak. Natsu was easily promoted to S-Class and no one was against it. Everyone has come to terms with Natsu being the strongest mage there... other than Gildarts, Laxus, Gray and Gajeel. They also had to get used to him disappearing and coming back anytime. And sometimes with other spirits as well. Lokes' appearance change was also something they had to get used to, but it wasn't that hard of an adjustment. Now Happy lives with Lucy, as does Natsu... sort of. But he sleeps in the Spirit World.

"Hey, so... are we still 'Team Natsu'?" Lucy asks her close group of friends; Erza, Gray, Happy and Natsu, one day.

"What kind of question is that?" The pinkette speaks up, looking at her as if she had asked the dumbest question ever. "I'm still a Fairy Tail mage, don't think I'm leaving the team!" He snorts.

"Speaking of our team, when was the last time we went on a job together?" The question was valid. They hadn't gone on a job with all five of them since before the 'incident'.

"Tomorrow!" Natsu stands, putting his hands on his hips. He races towards the mission board and plucks off one about destroying a dark guild, then he goes back to his friends. "And this'll be it!" His contagious grin quickly spreads through the group, and they all agree on what time they'll meet tomorrow to leave for the mission.

 _Same as always, huh, Natsu._ Lucy watches him run around the guild, smiling and laughing, getting challenged by Gray only to defeat him a moment later. _Well, almost the same._

 **A/N: Yep. Definitely should have uploaded this months ago. Sad how true that is, but look at all these chapters going up, eh? I will most likely (hopefully) go back and edit this fic because even now I see all the holes in character development, plot holes, and general mistakes in writing. Thank you for reading! Thank you lovely people, I don't know what I'd do without you all! Bless you! Goodbye people!**


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